WHYY and Community Outreach

On October 7, 1999 TIF’s audience increased exponentially from less than two hundred to twenty thousand or more. The occasion was a conference and mayoral forum on “Higher Education and the City,” co-sponsored by various civic organizations in the City and featuring three hours of Radio Times as well as television rebroadcast by WHYY of the mayoral forum. The topic had been suggested by Temple’s Vice-President for Administration and supported by area civic and business leaders. They knew that the economic future of the City, and indeed of the Greater Philadelphia area, depended on its 70+ colleges and universities

In May, 2000 WHYY approached TIF with a proposal to co-produce four events at Temple in the next academic year, each involving two hours of Radio Times. In the meantime I had been following up on the “Higher Education and the City” initiative along with the former dean of Temple’s College of Arts and Sciences, Carolyn T. Adams. Together we plotted creation of an umbrella organization for area college students and recent graduates, designed to enrich their lives during their time in Philadelphia while also encouraging them to take up roots in the area. Toward that end we organized a conference at WHYY in October, 2000, on Philadelphia as College Town, again featuring Radio Times, and attended by leading representatives of town and gown. Out of the conference came our much sought organization, the Greater Philadelphia Collegetown Project (GPCP). Staffed by recent graduates, it has brought area Student Life administrators together, as well as representatives of student government, while also managing a very active website. Once having helped create GPCP, TIF returned to its main business of public affairs programming. Meanwhile, the TIF/WHYY connection continued into the next academic year.