Guest post by Jessica Hersh-Ballering

ULI Idaho is seeking to leverage ULI’s new Building Healthy Places Initiative to build new regional partnerships and alliances that will help forge a path toward a healthier future for the state.

The Partnership Initiative seeks “to mobilize action around support for healthy real estate practices” in Idaho’s Treasure Valley. By leveraging ULI’s leadership, these partnerships will breakdown silos, develop a common language and vision for healthy communities, and, most importantly, lend the partners a strong collective voice.

ULI Idaho is meeting with more than 60 individuals and organizations, has circulated a web survey , and has interviewed more than fifty community leaders in a diversity of sectors, including health, education, real estate, government, and business. These efforts are helping the District Council define a “healthy community,” and strategies to achieve one.

Economic vitality, safety, and mobility choice are emerging as critical elements in a healthy community.

ULI Idaho also participated in the annual Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce Leadership Conference, which sponsored a special dinner session with the keynote speaker, Robert Grow. Grow is founder and CEO of Envision Utah. Attended by more than 160 local leaders, the conference was titled “Building Livable Cities in the Treasure Valley.”

ULI Idaho expects the Partnership Initiative to attract both traditional and new partners. Healthy communities, according to ULI Idaho, “can be the foundation for a common vision that then can be accomplished through a variety of actions.” By bringing multiple stakeholders into the conversation regarding healthy communities, ULI Idaho has set the stage for significant change.