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Community Outreach

Overview

The Urban Land Institute’s Community Outreach Program addresses community building and land use issues by working with ULI members and District Councils at the national, state and local levels to help influence policy and practice. The Institute does not lobby, but its community outreach program enables ULI leaders to identify challenges to better land use and development, highlight best practices from across the country, and develop new solutions to improve land use patterns.  By engaging land use professionals and other stakeholders to resolve complex land use, development and redevelopment problems, ULI members are making a difference in their hometowns.

ULI members and District Councils collaborate with other stakeholders to implement consensus-based solutions for better communities, in areas such as smart growth, workforce housing, regional cooperation and visioning, public sector outreach, and urban initiatives. To further these activities and programs, ULI in the Community publishes "Case Studies for Action ," profiles of replicable ULI District Council outreach activities. Additionally, to encourage entrepreneurial projects at the state, regional and local levels that build community consensus for action and change, the Urban Land Institute administers the Community Action Grants program, funded by Urban Land Institute Foundation.

Summaries of Community Outreach Programs
Matrix of Community Outreach Initiatives
Who's Who in Community Outreach?
Other Resources

Summaries of Community Outreach Programs

Staff have prepared the following summary sheets to help District Councils and ULI members better understand the various Community Outreach programs and initiatives that their peers are working on.

• ULI in the Community Summary
• Inner-City Advisor Summary
• Public Sector Outreach Summary
• Reality Check Summary
• Smart Growth Alliances Summary
• Urban Initiatives Summary

Community Outreach Matrix

The Community Outreach matrix tracks and presents the Community Outreach activities undertaken by each District Council. The Community Outreach matrix is part of the Community Outreach program's efforts to increase communication among District Councils, ULI members, and ULI staff on the numerous community-oriented programs that District Councils have completed and have underway. To add a program or initiative that is not yet on the matrix, please contact Gwen McCall at Gwen.McCall@uli.org. 

Community Outreach Matrix -- Fiscal Year 07
Community Outreach Matrix -- Fiscal Year 08 Proposals    
Community Outreach Summary Table -- Fiscal Year 06-08

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Who’s Who in Community Outreach?

Marta Goldsmith
Senior Vice President, Community
Phone: 202-624-7107    
E-mail: goldsmith@uli.org  

Suzanne Cartwright
Director of Community Outreach, Land Use Programs
Phone: 206-254-5617    
E-mail: suzannec@uli.org   

Heidi Sweetnam
Director of Community Outreach, Urban and Public Sector Initiatives
Phone: 202-624-7170
E-mail: hsweetnam@uli.org

Paula Blasier
Director of UrbanPlan
Phone: 415-217-0012
E-mail: pblasier@uli.org 

Gwen McCall
Administrative Manager
Phone: 202-624-7026     
E-mail: gwenmccall@uli.org

Click here for printable pdf of "Who's Who" in the Community Group

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Other Resources

District Councils  

District Councils are ULI at the local level, building better professionals and giving ULI the opportunity to influence local land use policy and practice. District Councils are at the core of many community outreach efforts. They are organized in 48 North American communities and 13 European communities serving more than 30,000 of its more than 37,000 members.

Advisory Services 

ULI Advisory Services brings the finest expertise in real estate to bear on the key questions faced by public agencies, private companies, and nonprofit organizations. The ULI Advisory Services program offers fee-based services providing the technical expertise of ULI members to cities, private developers and other organizations that need objective analysis and advice on how to solve difficult land use, development and redevelopment problems.

District Council Technical Assistance Programs (TAPs)

Implemented through the District Councils,  Technical Assistance Panels are sessions in which members of a District Council spend a day with a sponsor to address a specific land use issue. The TAP program provides expert, local, multidisciplinary advice on land use and real estate issues facing public agencies and non-profit organizations ranging from site-specific projects to public policy questions. The TAP program is flexible to provide a customized approach to specific land use and real estate issues. Some 20 District Councils offer TAPs locally.

Policy and Practice 

ULI’s Policy and Practice department identifies the best in land use and real estate development practices and disseminates its findings to the land use and development community in a variety of formats. The Institute’s real estate practice program is interdisciplinary and as diverse as the interests of ULI’s members, focusing on retail, residential, resort, office and industrial development; real estate finance and industry structure; transportation and parking; and general real estate practice. ULI’s land use policy priorities include smart growth, housing policy and programs, urban revitalization, environment, community outreach and transportation and land use.

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