Equity and Inclusion Archives - International Downtown Association

Equity and Inclusion

Inclusive Entrepreneurship

This presentation from IDA’s 2022 Annual Conference covers many of the issues in the Inclusive Entrepreneurship top issues council.

Lessons from an Emergency: Crisis Ops for Social Issues

In December 2021, San Francisco Mayor London Breed declared a 90-day state of emergency for the overdose crisis in downtown. Together with place management organizations, city departments commanded by the Department of Emergency Management developed a disaster relief framework for long-term operations to address the most intractable issues at the intersection of crime, homelessness, mental health and substance use disorder.

Heather Hiles Master Talk

Heather Hiles is an expert in technology, learning and talent development, with a 30-year track record of creating and scaling nonprofit and for-profit organizations that have improved millions of lives. Hiles is the founder / co-founder of SFWorks, EARN, The Hiles Group, Pathbrite, Calbright College and Black Ops Ventures.

Advancing Places: Connecting with Downtown Neighborhoods

We often inherit a complicated relationship with the neighborhoods adjacent to the traditional downtown core. Those adjacent neighborhoods are sometimes very different in history and composition – the buildings are likely older, the land is less developed, and the community less affluent. The neighborhoods may be separated from downtown by historic and political barriers, including racist and exclusionary policies and years of broken economic development promises.

Advancing Places: Housing Attainability

Every community needs housing options that meet a diversity of incomes and lifestyles. Downtowns, city centers and neighborhood districts throughout North America are working to make attainable housing a reality for people seeking an urban lifestyle. Urban place management organizations of all sizes and resource levels can play a role in encouraging more housing at a variety of price points and of varying styles.

Advancing Places: Conversation on Homelessness

Homelessness is, at its core, a human challenge, and as urban place managers we can act as conveners to collaborate and coordinate with service providers, public agencies and local organizations to ensure empathetic and successful programs. Join two panelists as they discuss their passion for addressing homelessness in their local district and how they approached the difficulties and successes when working to balance their unique situation.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Join this session to meet fellow colleagues interested in starting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) projects and have a Q&A with an expert in the field of implementing new initiatives that are integral to your current mission while moving the needle on DEI. What is performative and what is real change. Learn how to strategize and implement authentic DEI to your organization.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Placemaking: Reimagining How Business Improvement Districts Use Their Power

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have become an even more important and timely issue in 2020 for many cities and organizations. We have an obligation to look inwardly at ourselves, our organizations and at our peers who, knowingly or in ignorance, perpetuate systemic racism and inequality. During this time of necessary and overdue reflection, we will discuss how BIDs and other place management organization can reimagine the way they use their power.

Strategies to Advance Equity and Racial Justice in the Place Management Industry

Join IDA’s Inclusive Places Council (IPC) to explore specific actions place management organizations can take to advance equitable development and racial justice within the industry and in the cities where we work. Hear from a panel of experts and practitioners about the work they’ve done and the challenges they’ve faced around equity and inclusion in the place management field.

Taking a Leadership Role in Affordable Housing

The affordable housing crisis is forcing downtown workers to live farther and farther away, reducing our competitiveness as a jobs center. Downtown organizations are in a unique position —due to our skills, partners, constituencies and clout— to take a leadership role in creating workforce housing. Come hear creative examples that you could implement in your community.

Carol Coletta Master Talk

Carol Coletta leads the relaunch of Memphis River Parks Partnership, a nonprofit developing, managing and programming six miles of riverfront and five park districts. Previously, she led the two-year start-up of ArtPlace, a unique public-private collaboration to accelerate creative placemaking in communities across the U.S. and was President & CEO of CEOs for Cities for seven years.

Maurice Jones Master Talk

With deep experience in both public and private sectors, Maurice A. Jones became LISC’s fourth President & CEO in 2016. He previously served as the secretary of commerce for the Commonwealth of Virginia, deputy secretary for HUD, commissioner of Virginia’s Department of Social Services, deputy chief of staff to former Virginia Governor Mark Warner and, during the Clinton administration, director of the CDFI Fund.

Jennifer Vey Master Talk

Jennifer Vey’s work at the Brookings Institution primarily focuses on the connection between placemaking and inclusive economic development in the digital economy. She is the author or co-author of numerous Brookings publications, including Transformative Placemaking: A framework to create connected, vibrant, and inclusive communities and Assessing your Innovation District: A how-to guide.

Lateefah Simon Master Talk

Lateefah Simon is a 20-year veteran organizer for racial justice in Oakland and the Bay Area. She has been the President of the Akonadi Foundation since 2016. That same year—driven by the death of Oscar Grant—she ran and was elected to the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors—of which she now serves as President.

Main Street Grand Forks: The Longest Table

For the past two years, beginning in 2018, the Longest Table has welcomed local Grand Forks, North Dakota residents to sit down for a free meal in a welcoming environment with people they may not have known, to foster stronger connections, exchange stories, discuss community challenges, and spur civic innovation. Through conversations with strangers around the table, attendees are encouraged to listen attentively, share openly, consider thoughtfully, and dream big.

P.U.M.A.’s Global Trends Report: Pandemic July 2020 Update

In late 2019, P.U.M.A. and IDA jointly released the 2020 Global Trends Report highlighting opportunities arising from converging shifts in demographics, lifestyles and a new category, “disruptive forces,” that are shaping our cities. Little did we know that months later we’d be in the midst of the disruptive events of our lifetimes – the pandemic that has wreaked havoc on public health and economies, and the American protests for racial justice that could accelerate dramatic social change.

Top Issues Council: Housing Attainability – How UPMOs Can Support A Diversity of Housing in Their Districts

Every community needs housing options that meet a diversity of incomes and lifestyles. The Housing Attainability Top Issues Council report demonstrates how urban place management organizations of all sizes and resource levels can play a role in encouraging more housing at a variety of price points and of varying styles.

The Changing Face of Economic Development: Land Use, Sustainability, and Housing

Millennial demographics, internet-fueled lifestyles, and a sharing economy (rides, workplace) alter land use and tax generation priorities for cities. Retail is no longer just about retail, with “place,” authenticity, and “trips,” becoming the defining components of a successful town center. Concurrently, the state is driving cities to change land use processes based on climate control and affordable housing mandates, while providing development incentives through new incentives and districts.

Growth Without Gridlock: Making the Case For Mobility Investments

Downtowns are transforming into more people-centered places by actively prioritizing transit, biking, and walking: the key to moving more people in the same street space. Not only does this require a different approach to planning and street design, but also requires a paradigm shift in thinking. In previously auto-centric cities, changing the status quo takes significant political will and intentional effort. In this session, hear cities’ strategies for making the case for sustainable mobility.

Housing Attainability in Downtown Portland

In recent years, housing costs in Portland have been rising as the city becomes increasingly attractive within the State of Maine and as compared to other regions nationally. There has been little development of new housing affordable to current Portland residents and very little construction of new housing at all between 2007 and 2014. To address the issues of housing availability and affordability the City of Portland adopted a host of strategic policies and initiatives.

New Development Meets a Neglected Neighborhood

Congress Heights Community Training and Development Corporation developed a framework for investing in a place-based inclusive economic and social development strategy centered around Congress Heights. It was built on extensive community engagement with a broad variety of stakeholders, from large developers to local youth, to city economic development officials, to local civic association members and more.

Inclusive Place-Based Economic Development

In 2015, Charlotte’s downtown association, Charlotte Center City Partners, was invited by neighborhood advocates to catalyze a multi-year partnership effort to transform the Historic West End of Charlotte corridor. However, in West End, long-tenured residents and businesses threatened by rising property values feel this pressure acutely as they face predatory investors and find very limited affordable housing options for those who wish to move but stay in the neighborhood.

What’s Our Real Role With Homelessness

Work with representatives from Arizona State University’s Watts College of Public Service & Community Solutions to strategize what is truly a BID’s role in homelessness?

Vitality Defined

This session will present the first iteration of the IDA Vitality Index, powered by Stantec. The Index will be an interactive, online tool to benchmark the vitality of downtowns across the U.S. It includes select indicators of economy, inclusion and vibrancy to enable urban place managers to objectively quantify and benchmark their district’s strengths and weaknesses against peer cities. During the session, panelists will share the Index and discuss how districts can use this data.

Preserving Culture and Community in Changing Urban Places

Gentrification and displacement of residents and businesses is a key issue facing communities as they grow and change, particularly for immigrants, refugees and communities of color. Learn from policymakers with urban district experience how place managers can partner to help preserve the essence of place, culture, and community – utilizing strategies like workforce investment, community wealth building, equitable development, business estate planning, nonprofit capacity building and more

Impacts and Challenges of Immigrant Entrepreneurs on Commercial Corridors

Immigrant entrepreneurs navigate bureaucratic hurdles, language barriers and outright xenophobia to open small businesses and pioneer distressed neighborhoods – revitalizing them, often unintentionally. Four professionals from diverse backgrounds share their experiences delving into subjects such as the cultural nuances to financing, murkiness of cash-only transactions, loose interpretation of rules and regulations, and more.

New ‘Outside the Box’ Approaches to Homeless Services

Often, place managers approach homelessness as a nuisance to be abated through things like “hostile architecture,” but often find this counterproductive. Some districts are exploring new approaches to serve people experiencing homelessness with programs like pop-up public toilets and social media videos to reunite families, to more expansive social worker interventions and eviction prevention strategies. This session presents ideas and spark discussion on compassionate and inclusive approaches.

Global Trends 2020: What’s Next for Downtown

P.U.M.A.’s award-winning Global Trends Report has been a go-to resource for downtowns for more than a decade. This debut of the 2020 edition will provide insight on what’s next for downtowns given shifts in demographics, lifestyles and competition. The panel will also provide provocative recommendations on how downtown managers can adapt to and get ahead of trends shaping our cities.