A Message From UCD About Current Events

Since our founding in the late 90s, University City District’s work has involved partnerships—with the anchor organizations that operate in our district, with the eclectic local businesses that offer us essential goods and services, with the arts organizations and non-profits that operate within our borders, with neighbors who have struggled for equal access to job opportunities, with local law enforcement and public safety organizations, and with the incredibly diverse community that calls our neighborhood home. We’ve strived to build trust with and between these different partners, to make sure they all have a seat at the same table through our board of trustees and community work, and to support them through our general mission of changing places and changing lives. We succeed as an organization because we listen to all voices and we bring people together in search of common solutions. 

Now we need a common solution to the tragedy of racial injustice, the injustice that is at the root of the senseless murder of George Floyd and too many others. We at UCD do not have the answers on the best ways to move forward, but we are committed to doing our part to remain an ally to the black community and continue building or rebuilding relationships. We pledge to listen closely to voices within our own staff; at our partner organizations; from our West Philadelphia Skills Initiative alumni; and in the neighborhood for guidance on how best to be a resource for black members of our community. We pledge to shine an even brighter light on the immense and transformative talents of our own essential workforce – our public maintenance, public safety, and Green City Works colleagues. We are committed to working side by side with small businesses owners, who help define the beautiful diversity of our community, on recovery and renewal in the weeks and months ahead. We promise to live our values and our words every day with deeds and actions, and to do better wherever we are falling short. 

In this spirit of common respect and common destiny, UCD and our community at large will push forward through these difficult times. Together.