The School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Vet) has a long-standing reputation as a global leader in veterinary medicine education, research, and clinical care, with a tradition of compassionate clinical expertise, intellectual rigor and the pursuit of innovative thinking. The Shelter Medicine Veterinary Development Initiative intends to inspire veterinary students to pursue the shelter medicine field, encourage veterinarians to engage with shelters, facilitate shelters to productively engage with the veterinary field, and provide continuing support for the veterinary shelter community. The initiative will help to bring the shelter medicine community together, integrating students early into this collaboration and encourage systematic, multifocal veterinary support for the shelter medicine field. Penn Vet will also develop a consortium with Cornell University and Tufts University to collaborate with the goal to improve knowledge of sheltering and student education in shelter medicine.