Dear Students and Colleagues,

One of the projects outlined within Temple University’s strategic plan, Forward with Purpose, calls for the development of a community extension center, an effort that will amplify Temple’s civic engagement in support of our priority of Place-based Impact. The historic Burk Mansion, located at 1500 N. Broad St., is the ideal location for this project to come to fruition.

In April, we submitted a formal application to the Philadelphia Historical Commission that detailed our plans for rehabilitating and using the Burk Mansion moving forward. Today, we are delighted to share an update on those plans.

Thanks to a generous naming gift from Michael Spolan through the Spolan Family Fund, the Burk Mansion will now be known as the Spolan Community Engagement Center. Once open, the Spolan Center will serve as the dedicated hub to house Temple’s community engagement efforts. It will host a wide range of programs and services that will be available to the North Philadelphia community.

We are deeply grateful to Michael Spolan and the Spolan Family Fund for both this gift and their vision for a stronger partnership between Temple and its surrounding neighborhoods.

Renovations are currently underway, and the Spolan Center is expected to open its doors in early 2028. As we plan for the center’s opening, we are committed to taking a listen-first approach as we map out the programs and initiatives that will operate there. Community feedback will inform the needs that the Spolan Center will look to meet. Some programs, like Temple’s Community Gateway, have already been identified as programs that will move to the center.

Our North Philadelphia neighbors are vital members of the Temple family, and the establishment of the Spolan Center is a visible demonstration of our continued commitment to this community.

We invite you to learn more about our plans for the Spolan Center in this Temple Now piece. We are excited to expand our community engagement efforts and further our impact.

Sincerely,

John Fry
President

David Brown
Executive Director of Community Impact and Civic Engagement