The Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (PHENND) began in 1987 with representatives from five colleges and universities. In the spring of 1991, interest in PHENND began to increase, witnessed by an organizational meeting that drew over twenty participants from higher educational institutions throughout the area. In 1992, PHENND co-sponsored and was the lead organization of Philadelphia's Summer of Service Project, part of an initial effort in President Clinton's National Service Program.  The program, Immunize Children At-Risk Early (ICARE), involved the coordination of 12 higher educational institutions through PHENND , the City's Health Department, the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, and the School District of Philadelphia, as well as other organizations.   In 1993, PHENND began to hold regular meetings and policy workshops with local, state, and federal officials.

Metropolitan-area higher ed collaboration was strengthened in 1994 when several Philadelphia-area institutions received grants through Pennsylvania Campus Compact to develop a corps of part-time service scholars.  Managing the only part-time corps in the nation, the Philadelphia program coordinators met regularly, helping solidify a regional approach to national service.  The program was so successful it became a model for the current "Ed-only" AmeriCorps award, administered by the Corporation for National Service.  

In 1997, PHENND received a major grant from the Corporation for National Service as part of the first round of higher education consortia awards under the Learn and Serve program.  Since that time, PHENND has grown from an organization of five colleges and universities to over 40 and from 25 individuals to over 3,000.

Since 1997, PHENND has held an annual conference, which draws higher ed faculty, students, and administrators as well as representatives of community based organizations and public schools to discuss issues pertaining to campus-community partnership.  Most recently, PHENND’s Eighth Annual Conference, which drew participants from Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey, focused on "Power, Access and Equity."  Keynote speaker Congressman Chaka Fattah gave a provacative talk about persistent disparities in Philadelphia and the region, particularly with regard to the educational attainment of young people.

Currently, PHENND has embarked on a three-year program to "Institutionalize Service-Learning" at eight area higher eds.  This program is supported by Learn and Serve America through the Pennsylvania/New York Campus Compact Consortium.  PHENND will work with the elect selected institutions to help them broaden and deepen their service-learning programs, emphasizing improved faculty development and community partner development.  In addition, PHENND will continue to provide training and technical assistance to a variety of university- and community-side practitioners on a wide variety of topics including student volunteer training, service-learning, community-based research, and the best practices of partnership.  In addition to supporting the work of member institutions, PHENND also coordinates its own programs which in many cases, bring the resources of the PHENND Network to bear on particular issues or problems.  New initiatives that have been created since that time include the Food Stamp Enrollment Campaign, the Financial Outreach Initiative, and the Scholars in Service to Pennsylvania program.

PHENND's growth signals an increasing recognition that significant curricular and co-curricular benefits can result when student and faculty members focus their research on working with the community. Finally, the PHENND approach provides a way to more effectively educate students for citizenship by providing them with opportunities to serve.

PHENND provides increased hope that higher educational institutions will work together to help solve our country's most pressing problems.  For the Philadelphia area, PHENND signals a new kind of democratic partnership that will result in substantial benefits for the colleges, universities, schools and communities of our region.