Latest Grant of $600,000 Adds to Foundation’s Generous Support of ULI

WASHINGTON (November 19, 2019) — The Kresge Foundation has awarded a $600,000 grant to the ULI Foundation to support ULI’s work in climate change resilience and sustainability through the ULI Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance. With this continued support ULI can maximize its impact on a greater number of vulnerable communities.

The new grant builds on Kresge’s past support of ULI efforts to provide site-specific resilient land use and development strategies to communities and promote strategies to increase energy efficiency in the built environment. This latest funding provided to the ULI Foundation raises Kresge’s total commitment to over $3.4 million.

ULI’s work on sustainability and urban resilience is based on the understanding that climate change creates complex challenges that put people, businesses, and property at risk, with low-income communities hit the hardest. Failure to address and mitigate climate risks threatens the wellbeing of the built environment, creating serious consequences for the health, viability, and economic vitality of our communities. Proactively addressing the significant causes of greenhouse gas emissions and finding strategies to increase the resilience of American cities will help strengthen communities while creating new opportunities for sustainability and inclusion.

To address both sides of climate risk — the root cause in carbon emissions from fossil fuel energy and resource use, and the unavoidable climate impacts that are already documented — ULI strives to reduce the negative impact of the built environment on the planet and increase the sustainability of urban areas — creating stronger communities for all people.

“We are grateful for this continued partnership,” said Billy Grayson, executive director for ULI’s Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance. “This new grant will strengthen ULI’s ability to help cites and the real estate industry develop and implement best practice strategies to build more resilient buildings and communities and to decarbonize our built environment.”

For nearly a decade, Kresge has been a consistent partner with ULI for a variety of mission-impact programs. In addition to generous support for programs related to sustainability and urban resilience,  Kresge is a major supporter for the Creative Placemaking Initiative, focused on developing and sharing best practices of integrating arts, culture, and community-engaged design into revitalization of corridors and communities. Kresge has also funded the ULI Pathways to Inclusion program, ULI’s initiative to build a more diverse audience of real estate and land use professionals at major ULI meetings and through locally-driven retention programs.