Pursuing the Anchor Mission in a Fragmented Suburban Setting

<div class="line" id="line-13"> Increasingly, suburban universities find themselves in communities facing challenges that inner&nbsp; cities have had to deal with for decades, including concentrated poverty, housing vacancy, and&nbsp; underperforming school districts. While the problems are similar, the institutional context is&nbsp; different. Compared to central cities, suburban municipal governments generally lack the&nbsp; resources necessary to sustain robust community economic development initiatives. Further,&nbsp; suburbs often lack the rich landscape of nonprofit organizations that were built up over many&nbsp; decades in central cities. This article reflects on the experience of the University of Missouri&hyphen;St.&nbsp; Louis as a case study of a suburban anchor institution. This experience suggests that anchor&nbsp; institutions in suburban settings need to focus on asset&hyphen;based community development,&nbsp; support collective action among fragmented institutions, and build the civic capacity of local&nbsp; governments, nonprofits, and businesses.&nbsp;</div>