Mantua resident Myna Whitney sometimes thinks about what Robert Frost immortalized as “the road not taken.”
“I find myself thinking where I would have been or who I would have been,” she says. “But I will never know. And I’m OK with it because I like who I am.”
The road that Whitney did take was one that made her a certified medical assistant in Drexel Gastroenterology. She credits Drexel’s outreach into its surrounding neighborhoods for her ability to take that path.
Whitney is one of a growing number of residents from Drexel’s nearby neighborhoods like Mantua and West Powelton who now work at the University. Drexel’s hires from these neighborhoods are at a nine-year high.
Whitney got her job through the University’s Medical Assistant Pipeline, which has been one of Drexel’s most successful community hiring projects. The pipeline helped place the residents who already had medical assistant certifications at the College of Medicine.
Drexel’s hires from neighborhoods in West Philadelphia are at a nine-year high.
The pipeline has attracted quality employees and improved retention. It worked so well that the basic model was modified to focus on helping fill job positions with Drexel’s outside vendors, such as SodexoMAGIC, which runs campus dining.
Just over 400 Drexel faculty and staff members live in West Philadelphia, and they make up roughly 8.4 percent of the University’s employees. Minorities make up at least 207 of those employees, approximately 51 percent of the West Philadelphians working at the University.
With last year’s opening of the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships and the continuation of older job placement initiatives, Drexel is in a good position to keep those numbers growing.