Lead developer Ancora has invited the Urban Land Institute (ULI) to conduct an advisory services panel May 5 at Fort Wayne’s Electric Works in recognition of the completion of Phase 1 of the massive redevelopment project.
The purpose of the panel is to help Ancora focus on insights and best practices in cultivating an inclusive place by expanding business development and hiring practices for minority, women and veteran-owned businesses.
“Ancora requested us to form an advisory services panel from multi-disciplinary backgrounds all focused on this issue,” Kelsey Steffen, vice president of advisory services at Urban Land Institute, said. “To come together to work with Ancora and the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne to provide recommendations.”
“Over 200 invitations to stakeholders have been sent. We anticipate speaking to a large variety of stakeholders. The goal will be to specifically address what is happening in Fort Wayne. It will ultimately impact Electric Works practices moving forward with Phases 2 and 3 and beyond of the redevelopment. It has the potential to have impacts on the community, Steffen said. Adding, “Ancora was looking for an unbiased opinion of how they could address redevelopment moving forward.”
ULI leaders are spending time in Fort Wayne before the panel meeting with community stakeholders to inform their recommendations on inclusive business development and hiring practices.
“Besides ULI members and invited guests, the hope is that lots of people from the community will want to come. That is the true audience. Both people who are hiring, people who are trying to get hired and those who have a broader interest in the future of Electric Works and what it means for the community of Fort Wayne should attend,” Steffen said.
Scheduled panelists for the event include:
● Panel chair Fernando Costa, assistant city manager, city of Fort Worth
● Lorin Carter, founder and CEO, C-Suite Equity Consulting, LLC
● Faron A. Hill, president, Peregrine Oak, ULI Foundation chair
● Jill Hunger, assistant director, Arlington County Department of Community Planning, Housing & Development
● Joanna Mack, associate, Salazar Architect
● Taylor Ralph, founder and president, REAL Building Consultants
● Dawveed Scully, managing deputy commissioner, Chicago Department of Planning and Development
In addition to the panelists, several ULI leaders will attend the event, including Ron Pressman, global CEO, ULI; and Sonia Huntley, senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion for ULI Americas.
The ULI Advisory Services Panel is made possible in partnership with The Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne and with support from Barnes & Thornburg, AWS Foundation, Do it Best, and Greater Fort Wayne Inc, according to a statement.
According to a statement from Electric Works, among the questions the panel will address are:
• How can a community (local government, philanthropy, business advocacy organizations, economic developers, developers) work together to expand inclusive business development and hiring practices for minority, women, and veteran-owned businesses?
• What can Electric Works do to make the district a model of inclusiveness in construction and operations?
• How can these best practices be a template for communities nationally?
The meeting will feature a networking session, a presentation and a Q&A session with panelists.
Electric Works is a mixed-use district of innovation, energy and culture, developed as a public private partnership of Ancora Partners and the city of Fort Wayne, Allen County, and the state of Indiana. A redevelopment and adaptive reuse of the former General Electric campus, the first phase of Electric Works includes more than 700,000 square feet of space and offers office, innovation, education, healthcare, retail, entertainment, and community uses to create new opportunities for inclusive economic growth.
The Urban Land Institute is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit education and research institute started in 1936 and supported by 46,000 members. Its mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide.
For more information on ULI, visit uli.org.
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