No Young Leaders Group in your District Council? Persuade the Chairman and Executive Committee to establish a YLG in order to:

• Allow younger members to get actively involved in ULI
• Create special learning opportunities for younger members
• Give younger members ULI’s high quality programming
• Create programs/activities geared toward younger members’ interests
• Grow YL professional skills and abilities
• Expand your local membership base while also reaching inclusivity goals
• Expand ULI’s recognition in the community
• Create leadership opportunities for younger members
• Create networking opportunities for younger professionals
• Get younger members involved in your Executive Committee and/or steering committees
• Help grow new leaders in ULI
• Help educate younger professionals to learn how to provide responsible leadership in the use of land in order to enhance the total environment
• Encourage YL to get involved not only locally, but also Institutewide

Getting Started

• Start by putting together a business plan.
• Check with your District Council coordinator to find out how many members under the age of 35. How many YLs will you need to make the group successful? Who can you recruit to leadership?
• Get the support of the District Council chair and the membership committee chair.
• Confirm that the chair(s) of the YLG will be given a seat on the Executive Committee as the Vice Chair, Young Leaders.
• Gain support to establish a YL position on every District Council committee to simplify coordination.
• As most YLs have not been members of ULI for very long, establish a senior advisor to help the YLG. The advisor can help them define/design high quality programs, acquire speakers, etc.
• How many event s do you want the YLG to have in the fiscal year (July 1 – June 30)?
• Identify types of events – traditional topical programs, member insights (successes/ lessons learned), case studies, project tours, social/networking, 101 classes (ex. Basis Real Estate 101), mentoring, run a session at a big D.C. event, etc.
• Do you want the YLG to have a page on the District Council website?

Building Momentum

• Do you have to be a member to attend a YLG event? Allow both members and non-members to attend, but charge non-members more for the events—make the differential large enough that it will encourage people to become members.
• On the event flyer, invite people to bring a friend or two.
• When you create your flyers, encourage people who receive the flyer to bring someone with them to the event so they can learn about what ULI has to offer.
• Ask other members who at their companies should be attending – a good place to start would be to ask Executive Committee and Standing Committee members for names and contact information.
• If you create good consistent programming and networking opportunities at every event – people will tell others about it and you will have success!
• Some District Councils have opted to pay for memberships for a limited number of students/young people each year. It is relatively inexpensive for the District Council