Are Eds and Meds Part of the Neo-Colonial Apparatus?

One thing policymakers and stakeholders tout in Camden is the Eds and Meds corridor in downtown Camden. Eds (universities) and Meds (hospitals and medical facilities) are part of the economic infrastructure of a city or metro area that, along with government and a few corporate institutions, serve as the primary employers and financial catalysts for many citywide initiatives. 

According to the Brookings Institution, these institutions bring new income to a metropolitan area, raise metropolitan residents’ earnings by improving their skills, spur metropolitan economic development through research initiatives, and likely encourage other employers in the metropolitan area to pay higher wages. 

This makes Eds and Meds popular amongst stakeholders from various sectors, from the political and financial spheres of influence. Because post-industrialization, which ravaged cities like Camden and Philadelphia, left a noticeable void in cities big and small—like Camden, Buffalo, and Philadelphia—policymakers sought out solutions for unemployment, poverty, violence, and an overall lack of investment. 

Eds and Meds became a solution. 

When I was an Undergrad, I interned for the stalwart state senator Wayne R. Bryant. One of the things I learned from interning in his office was that party leaders, legislators, county commissioners, and the state house were in constant communication about a myriad of things. Camden revitalization, in the form of tens of millions of dollars of investment, was at the top of their collective priorities. 

The overall plan was to create a corridor of Eds and Meds in the downtown portion of the city. Cooper Hospital, Rutgers University, and Rowan University became the anchors of this revitalization, spurring further development in and around Downtown Camden. With those anchors came various construction projects, a renowned cancer center, a medical school and research center, new for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, school privatization, the takeover of the city’s police, and a waterfront hotel. 

The city certainly looks different, and much of what those stakeholders planned came to fruition. But then the question is, what has all this revitalization amounted to for the residents of Camden? Was the goal of investing in Eds and Meds to serve the residents or those from outside the city of Camden? Was it about changing the perception of the city and how it actually looks, more than about changing the lives of the residents, both inside and out? 

Those were questions Sean Vereen, president and CEO of Heights Philadelphia, an organization that supports Philly students—Black and Latino first-generation college students from indigent backgrounds—on their path from high school to college and career. In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Vereen advised that the Eds and Meds shouldn’t be a defining feature of Philadelphia. Rather, Philadelphia’s defining feature should be helping its residents, particularly young people, with educational and career opportunities: 

“I often say Philly should be a city for working-class people. We have a lot of working-class sensibilities, but we don’t have an economy that works for working-class people. We are going to have to be much more dedicated across all kinds of sectors to really try to create that kind of city and region… Entry-level work is getting harder for people to find and have. Whether it’s [because of] tariffs or it is economic trends with hiring in general, it’s clear that the labor market is weakening. I think that’s particularly true for families of color, particularly Black folks seeking employment… We cannot just be a place of “eds and meds” and Comcast. There has to be more economic opportunity for more people.”

I think a fair question for all the Eds and Meds in Camden is what educational and career opportunities are they providing for Camden residents? It’s a fair question for them, the city government, and recently arrived corporations receiving multi-million-dollar tax breaks. To be fair, there are programs that support Camden’s residents, particularly young people. 

For example, Rutgers University-Camden, as part of the Rutgers University family, has its Future Scholars program, which is also offered in Newark and New Brunswick. The program hosts cohorts of 50 in grades eight to twelve, providing academic support, college prep support, and resources, and students receive scholarships if accepted to Rutgers. Cooper Hospital, to its credit, has supported residents entering building trades and has trained residents to become certified clinical medical assistants. 

Eds and Meds are doing some of what Brookings spoke about in its report.

But I’ve attended and graduated from Rutgers Camden. I am familiar with Cooper Hospital, as familiar as anyone who’s not a fan of hospitals can be. And, when considering the demographics of the workforce and students, the more things have changed, the more things have stayed the same. 

The majority of doctors, executives, and board members at Cooper Hospital are white and likely live outside of Camden. Patients, support staff, and some professional staff members are people of color. The maintenance and janitorial staff are mostly Black and Latino. The same is true for Rutgers. The majority of professors, executives, and board members are white and likely live outside of Camden. According to recent enrollment data, people of color are the majority of students, whereas white people make up 37% of students. However, how many of those students are from Camden City? 

How well does the work done by these institutions align with the grassroots work of the community rather than the agenda of the political party in control, the Camden County Democrats? 

For too long, Camden was considered the most dangerous and wayward city in the state, in need of state intervention. As I have said previously, such intervention took on a neo-colonial quality, taking over institutions historically in the hands of the people: municipal government, schools, and law enforcement. But the intervention also invested more in institutions than in people. 

Corporations, not people, received tax breaks for coming to or remaining in Camden. Public policy instituted and favored privatized schools over public schools, effectively dictating how Black and brown children are educated. Control over how Black and brown people were policed became a “shared” responsibility, providing non-Camden residents with voting power. Corporations were lauded for bringing new jobs to the city, but those jobs aren’t filled by city residents, and those who do work for those corporations are paid significantly less.  

The Eds and Meds sounds like a great opportunity to elevate the lives of Camden’s residents. But if piecemeal programs that only help the few while handing out bookbags at the beginning of the school year are all that’s there for residents, and there’s no major investment in changing the trajectory of residents’ outcomes, Eds and Meds are just the neo-colonial apparatus: they gets no street cred.