The ULI Women’s Leadership Initiative launched its inaugural offering of Urban Innovation Grants. Open to all district and national councils, the grant program intends to support the creation of innovative programs that raise the visibility and number of women in ULI and the real estate industry. With eight applicants, a jury of WLI Steering Committee members selected four winning projects with grants ranging from $1,500 to $3,000 and totaling $10,000.

“WLI has grown quickly since its inception over three years ago with now 35 local chapters in North America, Asia, and Australia,” said WLI Grant Chairman Merrie Frankel, vice president and senior credit officer of Moody’s Investors Service. “Due to the foresight of Theresa Salmen, Executive Director of ULI Charlotte, who conceptualized and created the template, we introduced  the WLI Urban Innovation Grants to encourage District and National Councils to become creative in how their WLI activities could make an impact – whether it was through increased female membership, career development, outreach in the community, or otherwise. We were truly pleased with the amount and type of proposals submitted, all of which had unique approaches to advancing women into greater leadership roles in their community and our industry.”

The grants were awarded to the district council chairs and staff on October 6, 2015 at ULI Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

The recipients of the FY16 Women’s Leadership Initiative Grants are:

ULI Central Florida: Lead and Champion: Providing the Tools and Support for Success – WLI Central Florida plans to kick-off a leadership series for women in the District Council to provide actionable skills that will help them advance in their careers and accelerate to leadership positions in their companies, in ULI and the community. The series will feature a “mentor match up” where younger members will be paired with a mentor to help them navigate career challenges.

ULI Houston: WLI Start UP: Inspiring Future Women Leaders with UrbanPlan – The WLI committee at ULI Houston plans to bring UrbanPlan to the District Council for the first time by choosing an all-girls school as the inaugural school.  The long-term goal will be to introduce the real-estate world to young women and allow them to see that women can and do hold important positions in this field. The UrbanPlan program will benefit from strong leadership and will eventually grow to include schools and students of all types within the Houston region.

ULI Southeast Florida/Caribbean: Miami’s Evolution as a Global City through Art, Culture, and Architecture – Using this forum exploring the intersection of art, culture, and architecture with top female speakers, the ULI chapter intends to grow its membership, particularly that of females who are underrepresented. In Miami, a higher level of design consciousness is increasingly driving the development process and reinventing ways for the city to renew itself. WLI plans to identify and target specific women in real estate who are not now ULI members to invite them to attend this forum, which includes lunch to be held at Miami’s new Perez Art Museum (PAMM) in downtown Miami.

ULI Toronto: She with He Campaign – ULI Toronto has created a new initiative and branded this campaign “She With He”. She With He is inspired by the UN’s global He for She Campaign (www.heforshe.org). Recognizing that progress toward our goals will be even greater when female and male leaders in our industry work together, this initiative will shine a brighter light on the talent, knowledge and leadership that Toronto women contribute to real estate, development and building healthier communities. The objective is to accelerate the advancement of gender equality in the Toronto real estate and development industry. The grant will be used to build a ULI Toronto She With He webpage for the campaign.