Ashti Tiwari | Let’s all be more civic-minded

Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) courses enable students and faculty to engage in West Philadelphia to solve critical problems in the wider community, and one should be in our primary carts at least once out of our eight semesters at Penn. 

My current experience with ABCS is a faculty-student collaborative where the academic component entails developing a proposal to improve either Penn undergraduate education or K-12 education in the Philadelphia public school system. The professors emphasize feasible solutions, as some students’ proposals are actually implemented after the seminar. 

In what other class are we given the time, resources, and feedback to pick one issue we see at Penn or in the community and get to develop a solution? This unique opportunity to be change-makers is something we should all experience as students and community members.

Aside from the academic component, my ABCS course places us in Paul Robeson High School to provide college access support to high school juniors and seniors. Whether it is essay editing or discussing higher education and other career pathways, ABCS creates a collaborative relationship between the public school district and Penn students while promoting career readiness to high schoolers. As Penn students who successfully went through the college application process, we have valuable expertise, and having the opportunity to share the knowledge we built is very rewarding. 

The Netter Center for Community Partnerships also has different forms of civic engagement outside of ABCS, including Penn programs that help traditional public high schools function as University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS). The Netter Center focuses on mobilizing Penn's vast resources to build a democratic relationship with UACS, but student engagement is at the core of mutually beneficial civic engagement and crucial to most Center initiatives. We are incredibly privileged with the academic resources of Penn and should take what we learn to do good. ABCS can facilitate this through specialized courses like “Energy Education in Philadelphia Schools” or the “Wharton Field Challenge: Financial Literacy Community Project,” so every student’s academic interests are represented and relevant to civic engagement. 

Now that I’ve outlined what is offered on campus, why aren’t we doing more? 

To be clear, I am not calling on my fellow classmates to fix these deep-rooted issues of educational disparity, but there is an obvious disconnect between the wealth and prestige of Penn and the public district we share this city with. While Penn ranks No. 10 in Best National University, Pennsylvania ranks No. 39 in education. Why does this educational gap exist? 

The University is considered an exempt 501(c)(3) organization that is required to file Form 990, an informational tax form that most tax-exempt organizations must file annually. With its nonprofit status and the 1997 Pennsylvania Act 55, known as the Institutions of Purely Public Charity Act, Penn has been exempt from paying property taxes after 2000, which make up a large portion of revenue for Philadelphia public schools. According to a 2023 annual financial report of the School District of Philadelphia, 50% of the general fund revenues came from local property taxes and other locally generated taxes. 

It’s important to know the significance of this economic power imbalance because the responsibility falls on students to pick up the pieces. With an undergraduate population of 10,610 and one ABCS course each, that is over 10,000 ways we can make a positive difference where the University has fallen short.   

In fact, Penn has held firm in not paying Payments in Lieu of Taxes since 2000, which are voluntary to make up for the lost tax revenue. The University’s main reasoning is this: Penn is the largest private employer in Philadelphia with 46,554 local employees. From Penn’s perspective, the sheer economic impact they have on the greater Philadelphia area is significant enough to forgo property taxes if the University is still making major contributions in another way. 

But with this reasoning, the public school system suffers due to a lack of programs, funding, and adequate education for the K-12 students. Our response to this institutional neglect needs to keep the community at the forefront. If Penn justifies its employment as a large enough contribution to Philadelphia to replace funding for public schools, we can justify using our Penn education to help service those schools. 

This longstanding political issue between our institution and West Philadelphia public schools is not something you or I can fix overnight. So, I implore us all to find other solutions to give back. This can start with an ABCS course, but let us go beyond. Get involved with the Netter Center, learn about the neighborhoods that surround us, and make a genuine impact on the community we live in. 

ASHTI TIWARI is a College sophomore studying philosophy, politics, and economics from Corning, N.Y. Her email address is ashti@sas.upenn.edu.