For more information, contact: Trisha Riggs at 202-624-7086; [email protected]

WASHINGTON (January 24, 2019) – The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Foundation a $2 million grant to support ULI’s efforts to advance healthy real estate and community development practices. An additional grant of $50,000 was also awarded to support activities which further collaboration between ULI and its partners on health. ULI is a global real estate organization with more than 42,000 members dedicated to creating thriving, sustainable communities. The ULI Foundation provides philanthropic support for the Urban Land Institute’s mission-focused programs.

The grants will support the Institute’s work to research and promote real estate development practices that advance human health and wellness and social equity, as well as the partnership between ULI and seven other professional membership organizations to advance goals of the Joint Call to Action for Healthier Communities. The Joint Call to Action encourages members of the organizations to build relationships, establish health goals within projects, implement strategies that improve health, and share expertise across the industry.

ULI’s work on healthy communities shows that despite a growing understanding of connections between the built environment and health outcomes, many buildings and communities are still being built in ways that do not provide opportunities for all people to live a healthy life. Communities are struggling to address the legacy and impact of land use and transportation decisions that make access to affordable housing, healthy food, social services, physical activity, and other ingredients of a healthy life challenging.

“ULI members have been at the forefront of developing healthy communities where people of all income levels and backgrounds can thrive,” said ULI chief executive officer W. Edward Walter. “With this generous grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Urban Land Institute will continue to be the leader in promoting positive change throughout the real estate industry and in communities.”

With these grants, ULI will utilize the collective knowledge and commitment of its membership base to promote healthier and more equitable development and communities, and partner with other industry membership organizations to support collaboration across all land use professions to promote health through the built environment. The $2 million grant will comprise four components: an assessment of the current status of health and social equity in real estate practice; activities to build awareness of and drive more investment and funding to healthy and equitable real estate development and retrofit projects; a program to utilize ULI’s network of local chapters to shape land use and transportation policies and practices for health and social equity; and activities that will leverage ULI’s member networks to supporting a focus on health, social equity, community engagement, and diversity.

The work will be led by the ULI’s Building Healthy Places initiative, which is part of ULI’s Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance. Building Healthy Places, launched in 2013, is focused on leveraging the power of ULI’s global networks to shape projects and places in ways that improve the health of people and communities.

About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has more than 42,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines. For more information, please visit uli.org  or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

For more than 45 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are working alongside others to build a national Culture of Health that provides everyone in America a fair and just opportunity for health and well-being. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.