The University City District is a non-profit 501(c)3 special services district created in 1997 to improve the University City section of West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Its 25-member board of directors includes representatives from local institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania, local businesses, and other community members. The organization has a full-time staff of 16.[1]
The organization divides its activities into four topics: public safety, public space maintenance, marketing & communications and neighborhood initiatives.[2] Among other things, the group makes grants to local businesses, for $10,000 and other amounts.[3]
The organization's web site lists among its accomplishments helping to create the Clark Park farmers market and "implementing" more than $3 million in street landscaping and public infrastructure projects, with another $1 million to be completed by the end of 2010.[4]
The group is credited with helping to cut the area's serious crime by 20 percent and drawing nearly $4.5 billion in investment to West Philadelphia, according to a commission that studied tax policy for the city of Providence, Rhode Island. [5]