Ten grants totaling $100,000 have been awarded to ULI district and national councils through the Institute’s Urban Innovation Grant program. Only ULI district and national councils are eligible to apply for the grants, with awards ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 for innovative projects that engage ULI members and further the Institute’s mission at the local level.
“The Urban Innovation Grants program is helping our members make a real, measurable difference in how our communities are growing for the future,” says Patrick L. Phillips, ULI global chief executive officer. The recipients of the 2016 ULI Urban Innovation Grants are:
- ULI Central Florida: Encore Entrepreneur Initiative & the Built Environment. To help respond to the growing number of retirees taking on “encore” careers and self-created entrepreneurial endeavors in Florida, ULI Central Florida will team up with the four other Florida district councils to better inform stakeholders regarding how to create an attractive environment for this demographic.
- ULI Cleveland: Building the 21st-Century City: Best Practices for Creating a Thriving Urban Core. Akron, Ohio, has invested much in the revitalization of its downtown, and strong demand exists for housing in the center of the city, but the demand is not being met by entrepreneurs seeking to provide a variety of housing choices. ULI Cleveland plans to hold a daylong symposium on the topic.
- ULI Europe (France, Ireland, and the Netherlands): Affordable Housing in Europe: Developing New Solutions and Partnerships through City Gaming. A critical issue when it comes to the lack of affordable housing in many European cities is the relationship between the public and private sectors. With this grant, ULI France, ULI Ireland, and ULI Netherlands will use city gaming to engage multiple stakeholders in resolving complex urban challenges.
- ULI Hong Kong: ULI YLG Hong Kong Case Competition. An ongoing controversy in Hong Kong concerns the treatment of historic buildings and how best to preserve them in such a profit-driven city. The Young Leaders Group (YLG) of ULI Hong Kong will hold a competition seeking innovative design ideas and business proposals related to historic preservation and adaptive use within a commercial context.
- ULI Minnesota: Regional Council of Mayors Leading into the Future. ULI Minnesota plans to host a monthly meeting with the Regional Council of Mayors at which content experts from outside the region will share emerging best practices on housing affordability and transportation, two topics of critical importance.
- ULI Nashville: Better Information: Better Decisions: Better Community. ULI Nashville leaders and members, staff from the Mayor’s Office, the planning director, the public works director, the vice mayor, and a team of Metro Council subcommittee chairs will work as a team to identify how best to raise the level of informed elected-official decision making to guide change and good growth in Nashville.
- ULI North Florida: Activating Jacksonville’s Urban Waterfront. ULI North Florida is looking to refocus key stakeholders on the redevelopment of Jacksonville’s underused waterfront.
