University Makes Voluntary Contribution to City

The University of Scranton presented a $200,000 voluntary contribution to the city of Scranton. As it has done since 2017, the University will target its contribution to specific priorities within the City based on conversations with city officials and economic and community development partners.

The University’s $200,000 voluntary contribution for 2019 will support: economic development initiatives ($100,000) undertaken by Scranton Tomorrow on behalf of downtown Scranton; neighborhood improvement and affordable housing efforts through the Beautiful Blocks Program ($25,000) and the Scranton Homeownership Assistance Program ($25,000), both undertaken in collaboration with NeighborWorks Northeastern Pennsylvania; and quality of life initiatives, including support for a City walkability study ($25,000) and a master plan for Nay Aug Park ($25,000).

The University has provided a voluntary contribution to the City of Scranton since 1983. The University’s voluntary contributions to the City total more than $4 million.

Although the University meets or exceeds all of requirements for tax exemption in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the University pays property tax in cases where the property has not yet been converted to educational use. According to the 2018 Economic and Community Impact Report published by the University’s Office of Community and Government Relations, in the 2017-2018 academic year, the University paid property taxes totaling $300,396 to the City of Scranton, Scranton School District, Lackawanna County and other municipalities. In addition, the University’s business partners (e.g. ARAMARK and Follett) pay various taxes, including a $30,065.21 mercantile tax paid to the City and School District.

The report also highlights the numerous other ways the University contributes to the region, such as: offering more than 100 free events annually that are open to the public, including exhibits and artist lectures at the Hope Horn Gallery, Performance Music concerts and masterclasses featuring University students and renowned guest artists, as well as a variety of public lectures and athletic events; offering academic competitions and activities through which 403 high school students participated in 2017-2018 academic year, in addition to another 360 elementary, middle and high school students served through after-school and mentoring programs as well as a special Scranton School District Community Partnership program; and community-related service project components imbedded in academic courses that resulted in more than 2,400 students engaging in more than 33,000 hours of service in the 2017-2018 academic year, in addition to student volunteers who assisted community agencies and participated in special projects. Altogether, annually more than 3,500 students contributed a total of 170,000 hours of service, much of it in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The full 2018 Economic and Community Impact Report can be seen on the Community Relations webpage.