Press Room

ULI LA District Council Receives 'Panther' Award for Outstanding Community Development Achievement

October 21, 2005

Los Angeles, Calif. – The California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) has announced that ULI Los Angeles, a district council of the Urban Land Institute, is a recipient of an award for outstanding achievements in “community reinvestment and empowerment.” The distinction recognizes work that supports the efforts of the federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to open doors to equitable lending practices in low-income neighborhoods.

ULI Los Angeles will receive the CRA Panther Award at the California Reinvestment Coalition's sixth annual Celebrate Los Angeles Reinvestment event, November 17, 2005 at the Japanese American National Museum, in downtown Los Angeles.

The CRA Panther Award specifically honors the work of ULI Los Angeles' Urban Marketplace, the annual, interactive conference devoted to neighborhood revitalization, according to California Reinvestment Coalition Executive Director Alan Fisher.

"ULI Los Angeles, through its Urban Marketplace program, is a strong force in revitalizing Los Angeles' low-income neighborhoods and neighborhoods of color," said Fisher. "By highlighting opportunities for development in underserved areas of the city, ULI Los Angeles' annual event is one of the most important vehicles in the city to offer real estate and development services for everyone, regardless of income."

The CRA Panther Award was created to honor the spirit of the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act mandating equal access to banking, according to Fisher.

"ULI Los Angeles created Urban Marketplace as a way of bringing together two groups of people who need each other: progressive developers and underserved communities," said ULI LA Chair Michael Banner. "The connections made since then have allowed neighborhoods to experience the kind of economic revitalization that results in investment and employment."

The CRA Panther Award is not the first recognition bestowed upon Urban Marketplace. In 2001 ULI LA received Urban Land Institute recognition for Urban Marketplace as an example of innovative programming, and in 2002 ULI LA was recognized for Urban Marketplace with the "ULI in the Community" award from ULI, according to Banner.

"Urban Marketplace demonstrates that people can conduct profitable real estate transactions and make Los Angeles a better place to live," said Banner. "We're very proud of its success, the jobs it has created thus far, and now this recognition from the California Reinvestment Coalition."

In 2000 the ULI LA Inner City and Urban Development Committee launched Urban Marketplace as a half-day conference. With its motto, "Make a Deal, Make a Difference," the annual event delivers a program of best practices, ULI publications and resources, roundtable discussions with industry experts, and exhibits to promote deal-making and investment in low- and poverty-level census tracts, according to Banner.

The next Urban Marketplace will be held Wednesday, March 15, 2006 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. For more information on Urban Marketplace, visit www.uli-la.org/urbanmarketplace.

Also receiving the CRA Panther Award are Jan Breidenbach and West Angeles Community Development Corporation. Breidenbach is executive director of the Southern California Association for Non-Profit Housing.

"She has been extraordinarily effective in opening new opportunities for affordable housing development, including Housing L.A., the successful campaign for an L.A. City housing trust fund," said Fisher.

"West Angeles Community Development Corporation, a ministry of West Angeles Church of God in Christ, has made an outstanding contribution to Los Angeles neighborhoods by promoting economic empowerment, social justice and community transformation. The corporation has also taken a leadership role in inspiring other faith-based organizations to help revitalize their local communities," said Fisher.

The California Reinvestment Coalition's Celebrate Los Angeles Reinvestment event is 5:30 p.m., Thursday, November 17, 2005 at Japanese American National Museum, 369 East First Street, in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. The event is open to contributors and other interested members of the public. For information call (415) 864-3980, or visit www.calreinvest.org.

The motivation for ULI Los Angeles' Urban Marketplace springs from the mission of ULI, which is to provide responsible leadership in the use of land in order to enhance the total environment. At ULI Los Angeles – which includes the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, Kern, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara – that mission is carried out by a composite of groups and individuals united in their pursuit of improving land-use policies. Since its creation as one of the initial district councils in 1989, ULI LA has grown to almost 2,000 members, and has continued to build its leadership legacy in bringing ULI to the greater Los Angeles land-use community.

For more information on ULI Los Angeles visit www.uli-la.org.

Jack Skelley is public relations director for Roddan Paolucci Roddan Advertising and Public Relations and serves on the Executive Committee of ULI Los Angeles as chair of the Communications Committee.