PCCE- Drexel University (Dornsife Center)

The Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships (Dornsife Center) is Drexel's community-based resource center, where the Drexel community and West Philadelphia residents and partners collaborate on issues of shared importance. In April of 2013 the founders of the Dornsife Center held a planning workshop where more than 60 people created the foundation of a shared vision. To guide our work, we also created the Dornsife Community Advisory Council, a 24-seat group that meets regularly to help keep the Dornsife Center true to that shared vision. With over 25 ongoing programs the Dornsife Center addresses community needs in the areas of the arts, education, economic inclusion, and health and wellness. Through these programs we have welcomed over 14,700 visits by 1,560 job seekers and other community residents to use our computer lab since 2018. Since 2014, we have shared over 22,000 meals with neighbors at our monthly community dinners. And through our partnership with Drexel¿s law school we have provided over 30,000 hours of legal help to residents to address job discrimination, estate planning, public benefits, post-conviction, and homeownership issues since 2014. The Dornsife Center serves the neighborhoods around Drexel University which are home to ambitious residents who have struggled with a 51% poverty rate, high housing vacancy rates, serious crime, and low education levels that make residents uncompetitive in today¿s economy. The VISTA member will build capacity by working with the Dornsife Center and local business and non-profit partners to integrate financial literacy curriculums and resources into existing programs. Whether it is working alongside our community lawyering clinic, our Community Wellness HUB, or our workforce development center, the VISTA can have a tremendous impact in assessing needs, co-designing programs, creating systems for data collection, and building processes that will last beyond the term of the VISTA.