University of St. Thomas
IN-2: Anchor Institution Network

The University of St. Thomas participates in the Central Corridor Anchor Partnership, which brings together a group of colleges, universities, hospitals, healthcare, and other organizations located near the Metro Transit Light Rail Green Line in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The partners have invested greatly in our physical infrastructure to serve our patients, students, and employees, and are anchored to the health, prosperity, and growth of the neighborhoods around us.

The focus of the partnership is to collaborate to spend more of our procurement dollars with Central Corridor businesses, hire more residents from Central Corridor neighborhoods, increase transit use by our students and employees, and to support place-making and investments within the Central Corridor. We believe that these strategies will not only make our organizations stronger, but also bring more prosperity to the Twin Cities region.

Two major outcomes for 2020 were the Diversity Data compilation and the C3 Fellows re-launch. Each partner institution contributed to a workforce diversity data compilation, allowing us to compare our percentages against the original data from 2015. As a whole, the Partnership maintains approximately the same percentage of employees living and working in our designated zip codes. The data was also tabulated by industry to benchmark our efforts within the education group in addition to holding each partner accountable to our overall goals.

From 2013 - 2017, approximately 540 students were enrolled as C3 Fellows. Seventy percent were students of color, 76% came from low-income households, 35% were first generation college students, and 80% continue to reside in Minneapolis or Saint Paul. Nearly all Fellows to date were placed in paid positions in hospitals, clinics, and long-term care. The average wage during this time was $14.44/hour, $5 higher than peers not working in their field of study. From 2013 - 2015, overall academic success among C3 Fellows was 10% higher than their peers due to strong mentoring and employment in their field of study. As of February 2017, the C3 Fellows program has created over $600,000 in economic benefit.

The C3 Fellows program was re-launched in early 2020 with a focus solely on part-time roles within healthcare and hospital partners for currently enrolled students at partner institutions. These roles allow students to earn wages while building experience and a network within their desired career field. Of the 29 students accepted into the program for spring 2020, 11 were students at the University of St. Thomas or Dougherty Family College. Hiring was dramatically slowed by the pandemic, but the program is currently reconnecting with students and working to find roles for spring 2021 employment.