$5,000

Safe Horizon – The Foundation funded $2,500 in the Spring of 2006; another $2,500 in the Fall was matched by another non-profit entity. This Housing Mediation Program was initiated in operation at three Domestic Violence Shelters in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and has been expanded into a 40-hour training program for volunteer mediators. This program has subsequently been expanded nationwide to assist underprivileged/under-educated residents with aggressive landlords, funding support from the IBM Foundation.

$5,000

San Diego Canyonlands Video – This information/education video was concluded and aired on San Diego cabled television stations to further the community’s knowledge on maintaining environmentally significant canyon areas and linking these connectors with nearby urbanizing areas. The preservation of vital open space areas is necessary to maintaining the ecosystems of the county; a mitigation program is now in effect in the County.

$5,000

ASU Graduate Student Chapter – Implemented and monitored by LAI’s Phoenix Chapter, a real estate based graduate student sub-chapter has been successfully formed. Funded on a matching basis by the local chapter, the students enjoy the benefits of real estate community involvement, networking, and clearly a more practical understanding of our industry through monthly meetings plus an annual conference with MIT’s real estate school. The program is in effect and has become a resource for future LAI membership.

$30,000

Burnheim Centennial Celebration – Funded over a four-year period with matching funds from the Ely Chapter, the project allowed Lambda Alpha to directly participate in the presentation of the project in 2009 and share in the promotional benefits of this historic undertaking. Chicago was masterplanned under the leadership of Daniel Burnham, who went on to prepare plans for San Francisco, the National Capital in Washington, Manila, etc. The impacts of this plan are still being felt by planners nationally and, especially, in Chicago where it continues to be viewed as a guide by both the private and public sectors. A textbook resulted from the Chapter’s involvement and has become a recognized resource document.

$5,000

Historic Preservation and Land Use Economics of St. Catherine’s Indian School – St. Catherine’s School is the largest adobe building in the southwest, and as the name implies, was a religious school dictated to the native Indians. Currently programmed for restoration by both the ownership and city of Santa Fe, LEF is co-funding a video and encouraging other prospective developers to recognize the sensitivity of preservation, also to appreciate cultural and economic values of similar public/private endeavors.

$4,500

Ross Minority Program in Real Estate – USC Marshall School of Business; School of Policy Planning & Development meet twice each year; the spring session is a two-week resident program, the six-week winter program is for non-residents and lasts for six weeks. This Certificate Program is an intensively comprehensive, educational program that is designed to provide minority urban developers with the technical expertise and access to resources needed to develop significant urban real estate projects in their communities. The format provides real estate development and finance education for minority entrepreneurs and professionals. It was founded in 1993 by the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles, USC and others interested in redevelopment. Sponsored by USC, it has graduated over 500 leaders in urban revitalization; LEF has participated on a co-sponsor basis.

$5,000

Light Rail Value Impacts – With the completion and now operational Light Rail system in Phoenix, the Foundation underwrote the cost of updating a ULI study addressing the impact on land uses and values surrounding the stations along the new rail line. A Master’s Thesis was submitted and published by Arizona State University; the study revealed and measured the impact on lands surrounding the METRO stations both in terms of intensity of development as well as the inherent appreciation in property pricing. The information was segmented by community as surrounding land uses affected the ability to recycle land and the constraints on value potential.

Vacant Land Values: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF PHOENIX METRO LIGHT RAIL STATIONS

$10,000

San Miguel de Allende Land Use Study – A technical workshop involving fifteen participants from multiple disciplines was assembled in Mexico to provide guidance for urban growth patterns, transportation, water management, conservation, etc. for this community of 80,000 people. LEF participated with six alliance partners. This colonial town in central Mexico is a haven for international visitors, retirees and US second-home expatriates. The prospects for urban sprawl threaten to undermine the quality of the community, the end-product of the workshop provided the local leadership with guidelines to oversee an orderly and disciplined growth pattern.

$25,000

Urbanist Agenda for America’s Cities – The San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association is undertaking the publishing of a text book of expanded essays involving eight major cites from San Diego to Toronto. The focus of each community study will be the understanding of basic community components from - developmental guidelines to water to transportation – to determine what is successful and what is not. More importantly, why a specific focused program did not function as planned, and to learn from mistakes. An LAI member from each city will be part of the process.

$7,500

John Marshall Law School – Identified as the Kratovil Conference on Real Estate Law & Practice: “40th Anniversary of our Quiet Revolution in Land Use Regulation”, this one day seminar will be hosted by the Law School in Chicago, along with LAI members from the Ely and Hawaii Chapters; the conference will focus on Land Use Regulation, Real Estate Ownership and Development. This high profile endeavor will involve interaction between scholars, leading practitioners, real estate attorneys and industry leaders. The collateral efforts of LAI participants and national exposure through various media outlets are a plus to the organization.