The effectiveness of an anchor institution’s engagement will rely heavily on the commitment of its implementers and its do-ers to pushing the mission forward, working step by step, and being invested in the notion of transforming the institution into an effective economic partner with its local community. The shape an engaged anchor mission ultimately takes is in part the sum of individual commitments to the work. 

The personnel and partners who achieve positive impact in collaborating around an anchor mission understand and care that their work is part of a larger story that has an arc towards fairness and inclusion. They are dedicated to helping others gain access to jobs, digital literacy, and tools for achieving success. They acknowledge and are energized by taking part in a national movement as movers in institutions that are planning more intentionally about local impact. They are motivated by the idea of transforming the institution’s relationship to its neighbors, and the way it does business. Implementers who are most effective at advancing an institution’s anchor mission are inspired by the opportunity to generate greater meaning in their jobs. 

At Drexel we are fortunate to have great staff and partners who understand the importance of the work towards an engaged anchor institution, who care about it, and who call on their own creativity and inventiveness to implement their piece of the effort. When there is one person dedicated to ideas like equity and diversity, then they find other coworkers and external partners to help them achieve anchor-mission goals, and they sometimes even develop informal pathways to support these ideas where formal ones do not yet exist. One of our advantages at Drexel, as a private university, is being able to give highly motivated and creative staff the space they need to develop an engaged-anchor agenda in their area of expertise, and to build the network of relationships around them that will help them effectively engage with the work. 

At Drexel we do not believe that there is one shape that an engaged anchor mission takes. Each institution is uniquely situated in terms of its geography (urban, rural, suburban), the nature of the institution (private, religiously-affiliated or not, public main campus, public branch campus), and the characteristics of its partner neighborhood. The shape of an anchor mission also depends on whether it is driven from top leadership, or is a grassroots effort.  

Very importantly it also is shaped by the strengths and sense of mission that implementation staff bring to the work. In any such institution-wide process, there will be detours, bumps in the road, and any number of recalculations in strategy, and when frustration ultimately arises it is invaluable to have a shared vision of equity that continues to animate the process. Engaging people who are talented and who also are personally invested in the ultimate mission of collective uplift will drive the ongoing success of this work as they forge unique pathways to champion the mission and achieve goals. 

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