On December 16^th, the Curtis Infrastructure Initiative hosted its inaugural cohort meeting, with ULI staff from the Terwilliger Center for Housing, Capital Markets Center, Building Healthy Places team, GreenPrint, and more gathered to hear ULI District Council personnel and local teams present on the projects they are pursuing with their awarded Curtis Infrastructure Grants.

To begin the meeting, participants were asked to introduce themselves with their definition of infrastructure. The definitions were wide ranging, reflecting the wide spectrum of the grant-funded projects and goals, as well as the broad and interconnective nature of infrastructure. Common themes in those definitions including community building, equity, connectivity, social and economic opportunity, and quality of life.

The cohort reviewed the funded projects in four of the six participating cities: ULI Cincinnati, which is focused on accelerating progress on a proposed 34-mile urban trail loop; ULI Dallas/Fort Worth, which aims to determine infrastructure priorities in the underserved, historically Black, Stop Six neighborhood; ULI Louisiana, which is focused on creating 5G/broadband infrastructure in Baton Rouge; and ULI Minnesota, which hopes to develop a community consensus around a land bridge/highway cap in the historic Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul. In the next meeting, the cohort will hear presentations from the remaining two participating cities, ULI San Antonio, which is exploring innovative mobility solutions; and ULI Toronto, which will be hosting a series of workshops on Transit Oriented Communities.

The cohort meetings will continue on a bi-monthly basis in 2021, focusing on having a broad discussion and building capacity and network among the local project teams, as well as a community of practice that can work together on shared challenges and opportunities. Future cohort meetings will also provide resources through ULI HQ staff and presenters.

The Curtis Infrastructure Initiative wishes you a happy new year and looks forward to seeing the tremendous work the inaugural cohort will be undertaking.

For more information, visit americastage.uli.org/infrastructure-initiative.