The Anchor Partnership hired the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) to complete a full analysis of spending by 10 Anchor institutions in order to develop a data-driven strategy to focus more spending in Central Corridor neighborhoods.

The Partnership is eager to develop a data-driven strategy to spending more procurement dollars in Central Corridor neighborhoods. ICIC’s analysis is expected to be complete August 6.

With key support from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative, the partnership turned to ICIC for help.  ICIC is a nonprofit research and strategy organization founded by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter and is focused on inner city economies.

"Kerissa Olmsted’s dual B.A. in Spanish and Portuguese, five years of hospitality management experience, and well-rounded extracurricular resume weren’t enough for her to break into the Twin Cities’ booming health-care field. During the summer of 2013, while taking science prerequisites at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC), she applied to 20 jobs — with zero response. Her dream of a career as a licensed physical therapist was on the ropes."

"The role of Anchor Institutions in local economies is having a resurgence of sorts according to research done by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner-City (ICIC), which focuses attention on the natural competiveness of location and infrastructure provided by our nation’s inner cities. With the Central Corridor under construction, the Twin Cities offers a platform to explore the role of local anchors – especially in relation to the aligned efforts of the “Corridors of Opportunity”. On November 3, the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative and other collaborating partners including the Met Council explored how the educational and health care institutions (“eds” and “meds”) located along and near the Central Corridor can work together in a more coordinated way to enhance their self-interest while benefiting the neighborhoods along the corridor. (Program materials available here.)"