header-left
File #: 181114    Version: 0 Name:
Type: Resolution Status: IN COMMITTEE
File created: 12/13/2018 In control: Committee on Commerce & Economic Development
On agenda: Final action: 12/13/2018
Title: Authorizing the Committee on Commerce & Economic Development to conduct hearings regarding Philadelphia Anchor Procurement Initiative.
Sponsors: Councilmember Green, Councilmember Domb, Councilmember Taubenberger
Attachments: 1. SignatureCopy18111400
Title
Authorizing the Committee on Commerce & Economic Development to conduct hearings regarding Philadelphia Anchor Procurement Initiative.

Body
WHEREAS, The Anchor Procurement Initiative ("API") is a partnership between the City of Philadelphia, the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, and leading university and health care nonprofit anchor institutions that seeks to increase local purchasing by large institutional buyers to grow local businesses and create jobs; and

WHEREAS, At 26%, Philadelphians suffers from the highest rate of poverty of any major U.S. city, with 48% of Philadelphia households living below 200% of the federal poverty level, struggling to provide basic subsistence for their families; and

WHEREAS, The local economy does not have enough jobs, particularly for people without a college education; and

WHEREAS, One of the country's most robust sectors of large, nonprofit "Eds and Meds" institutions, which spend $5.3 billion a year on goods and services in aggregate, mostly with vendors outside the City, according to a 2014 estimate; and

WHEREAS, One analysis suggested that over $500 million of that spend could be redirected to local suppliers, in sectors like food, medical services, medical and surgical appliances, building services, and others, which would result in over 5,000 direct and indirect jobs, which in turn could translate into a 2% reduction in the poverty rate, if hiring for those new positions were done from vulnerable and hard-to-employ populations; and

WHEREAS, From 2014 until 2017, anchor procurement in Philadelphia grew from a policy idea incubated in the City Controller's office into an initiative supported by Philadelphia's leading hospitals and universities; and

WHEREAS, The institutional buyers currently participating in the API include Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Drexel University, Thomas Jefferson University and Health System, The University of Pennsylvania, Einstein Healthcare System, La Salle University...

Click here for full text