New Haven

Yale University is proud to call New Haven its home.

The University has increased its partnerships with the city to build a stronger community. 

Learn more about Community Partnerships

Yale & New Haven Partnership Recognition

New Haven is a great city in which to live, work, and study.

Fall on the New Haven Green

New Haven has numerous strengths and significant potential that most other cities would find enviable. It has strong neighborhoods, wonderful parks and open space, inspiring architecture, is located near the coastline, and has a beautiful and historic green at its heart. 

New Haven Green
Fall New Haven Green

New Haven is rich in culture

Shubert Theater

Our city boasts two nationally-recognized repertory theatres, major summer festivals, three symphony orchestras, the rich heritage of the Shubert and Palace Theatres, and Yale’s museums of art and natural history, which all together attract audiences of more than 2 million. New Haven is the region’s center for medical care. The city is a center for biotechnology, a field as potentially important this decade as information technology was in the last.

Shubert Theater
Shubert interior

Like every city, New Haven faces opportunities and challenges that require the combined efforts of the private sector, government, neighborhood groups, local organizations, and nonprofit institutions like Yale to build on the city’s strengths and continue the progress made in recent years.

Yale, under the leadership of President Salovey, has expanded its efforts to promote economic development, increase homeownership, support public education, and revitalize downtown. Yale is proud to be a part of New Haven’s growth and increasing strength. The pages that follow describe, in brief, some ways in which the University is working for a stronger community.

Yale & Economic Development

A strong economic base to provide jobs for and tax revenue is essential for a strong community. Yale helps achieve this goal in New Haven in many ways.

  • Nearly 14,000 faculty and staff

    Yale University is New Haven’s largest employer of more than 6,000  New Haven residents.

  • Over $5 million this year

     Yale is currently one of the top 3 taxpayers in New Haven. Through its community investment program that redevelops nearby property, Yale pays real estate taxes on all of our non-academic property.

  • $135m commitment to the City of New Haven

    Yale University made a new, six-year voluntary payment ,  an amount unprecedented nationally.  This pledge includes establishing a new Center for Inclusive Growth at Yale, focused on creating and implementing economic strategies that benefit all New Haven residents. 

Over the past decade, Yale research has contributed to a growing cluster of spin-off companies in the greater New Haven area, generating dozens of business ventures. 

Yale & Neighborhood Revitalization: Strengthening Public Schools

Strong public schools are essential for a strong community. Examples of collaborations between the New Haven Public Schools and Yale:

  • Yale Pathways to Science

    Thousands of New Haven students join Yale Pathways to Science, accessing labs, events, and exploring cutting-edge scientific research firsthand on Yale’s campus.

  • Yale Pathways to the Arts and Humanities

    Yale’s Pathways to the Arts and Humanities program provides a wide variety of unified arts and humanities programs for New Haven Public School students.

  • New Haven Promise

    Yale co-funds New Haven Promise, offering $5M yearly in scholarships for local students, covering full tuition at public universities or $2,500 at independents. 

  • Pennington scholarship

    Yale created the Pennington scholarship program to support New Haven Public School students who choose to attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

  • Music in Schools

    Our Music in the Schools program brings talented teaching artists to New Haven public schools, enhancing music education tailored to each school’s needs.

  • Academic Yale College Courses

    New Haven students can earn college credits by participating in programs at Yale that provide free summer classes (along with room and board) as well as tuition-free classes.

  • Yale Schools of Medicine and Nursing

    More than 200 high school students spend up to 800 hours in Yale labs, lectures, and internships in their sophomore, junior, and senior years.

  • Comer School Development Program

    One of the nation’s foremost school reform efforts,. Developed in 1968, it creates learning environments that support child development. New Haven has made SDP a foundation.

  • Yale’s Museums

    All have extensive public school programs. 10,000+ students use the Yale University Art Gallery,  the Yale Center for British Art, and the  Peabody Museum of Natural History.

  • Summer Programs

    During the summer, hundreds of New Haven young people participate in free, full-day academic and recreation programs at Yale, including U.S. Grant.

  • Dwight Hall

    Over 50% of Yale’s 5,000 undergraduates participate in community service during their Yale careers, often with young people and the public schools.

Yale and Neighborhood Revitalization: Increasing Homeownership

Homeownership is essential to stabilize neighborhoods and help families create wealth. Affordable homeownership helps neighborhoods retain prospering families, support existing residents, and attract new residents. Yale has partnerships with community groups in neighborhoods such as Dwight, Dixwell, and the Hill, among others, to increase homeownership and economic development.

To encourage increased homeownership, Yale established the Yale Homebuyer Program in 1994. It offers any regular Yale employee - from faculty to maintenance to clerical to management - $25,000 ($5,000 at closing and $2,000 annually for ten years) to purchase a home in several neighborhoods. The Yale Homebuyer Program has had a marked impact on the number of home purchases in New Haven:

  • Yale has funded more than 1,300 employees who purchased homes since 1994.
  • 80% in recent years are first-time homebuyers.
  • Yale’s commitment of $35 million yields over $268 million in home sales.

Since 1990, in addition to its homebuyers program, Yale has contributed over $40 million to economic development initiatives including providing funds to the Economic Development Corporation of New Haven, Start Community Bank, Science Park, and our Broadway and Chapel Street community investment programs.

Yale & Downtown Revitalization

Downtown is the heart and soul of any city. Yale has been at the center of New Haven since the early 1700s and today, more than ever, the University is working with the City, businesses, and residents to build on downtown’s many strengths. Yale’s investments include:

$8,500,000. With City encouragement, Yale invested in key downtown properties to keep ownership local and the district intact and is now investing in upkeep and marketing to keep the district vibrant.

$8,000,000. The City and Yale secured federal funding for infrastructure improvements to this important intersection of campus and community. Yale has invested additional funds for facade and streetscape improvements and for a new retail building that will offer high-quality space for existing local and national retailers, bringing more jobs and taxes.

  • In its taxpaying retail properties, Yale provides space to more than 80 local merchants and five national retailers. The University works actively with the City and local business groups to attract, retain, and market downtown. Together with the City and the business community, Yale has helped create Market New Haven Inc. and committed $250,000 a year over three years to this concerted, strategic marketing initiative.


 

  • Yale has been a lead sponsor of facilities and events, like the Shubert Theatre and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, which bring hundreds of thousands of city and suburban residents to downtown. Yale has invested in its own arts facilities, such as the art museums and the School of Drama, which altogether attract 400,000 visitors a year.

  • Yale joined the City and businesses to create this organization that provides enhanced maintenance, hospitality, and safety. Yale pays $100,000 a year in taxes and direct grants.

  • Yale joined the State and City in this mixed-use retail and residential project. The residential portion, with more than 300 downtown living units, is full and the retail has been filling up with restaurants, turning the area into a major destination.