January 2016 Partner Spotlight – the Colorado Health Foundation!
Urban Land Conservancy (ULC) celebrates the achievements of its partnerships that create and preserve nonprofit facilities and affordable housing for communities in Metro Denver. ULC’s Monthly Partner Spotlight is awarded to partners who demonstrate the value of collaboration, furthering our mission to improve the lives of Denver area residents through our real estate investments and community assets.
Congratulations to our January 2016 Partner Spotlight of the Month: the Colorado Health Foundation!
The Colorado Health Foundation is a nonprofit organization that engages through grant making, public policy and advocacy, private sector engagement, strategic communications, evaluation for learning and assessment and by operating primary care residency training programs. With a vision of making Colorado the healthiest state in the nation, the Foundation works with a multitude of dedicated nonprofits, health care leaders, policy makers, educators and the private sector across Colorado. To achieve their vision they focus on three community outcome areas: Healthy Living, Health Coverage and Health Care to ensure a future state where communities promote health and health care systems deliver excellent, affordable care to Coloradans who both have and desire good health.
ULC has been fortunate to be a part of the notable work of the Foundation through their Healthy Places Initiative in the Westwood neighborhood. This initiative was created to Design an Active Colorado that inspires and supports the development of healthy communities by fostering a built environment that increases opportunity for daily activities that encourage movement, connection and fun!
Their investment of $1M over a 3 year period to support Healthy Places Westwood is providing the resources to implement community-identified infrastructure improvements that are dramatically increasing the safety and ease of walking, biking and recreating in the community. ULC’s Thriftway property is part of the Healthy Places work and in 2016, will become an activated recreation site that will include a futsal court and structures to encourage sport, play and connection.
“The Colorado Health Foundation has proven to be a critical resource in addressing health disparities in our communities, stated Christi Craine, ULC Operations and Communications Director and Healthy Places Westwood Project Management Team Member. “Healthy Places is another example of how they are not only highlighting the importance of the built environment, supporting changes that have been identified by the community to improve the health of residents and neighborhoods through movement. ULC is so excited to bring a new recreational space to this community as part of the many improvements catalyzed by Colorado Health Foundation’s investment.”
Not only has the Foundation been a powerful partner of ULC in Westwood, but we have formed a successful partnership through the Calvert Foundation’s Ours to Own Initiative. The Foundation’s investment was crucial in this unique resource, which in only one year was utilized to preserve over 100,000 square feet of commercial space, 80% of which is occupied by nonprofits, as well as land for a mixed-use development incorporating active design which will include affordable housing and commercial space. As a significant investor in a $10M Facility Fund, the Foundation supported ULC in fully expending this resource in 2015 for the acquisition of three properties:
- – Mountain View Nonprofit Tower, a seven story building in Capitol Hill that houses eight nonprofits whose clients rely on public transit for services provided,
- – Race Street Transit Oriented Development, a 6 acre site in Elyria Swansea poised for active development to include affordable housing and commercial space to benefit the community, and
- – Social Enterprise Foundry, a 44,000 square foot warehouse in Sun Valley accessible by rail that houses five nonprofits that focus on environmental sustainability including electronics recycling, refurbished technology for low-income individuals and environmental single family and multi-family housing upgrades to increase efficiency and lower costs.
Beyond preservation and development, ULC applies Healthy Principles approved by the Foundation when determining investment opportunities and making improvements to operating facilities to incorporate health related positive outcomes driven by real estate. The following Healthy Principles align with the Foundation’s priorities, and increase the impact of investments made by ULC:
- – Health Asset Inventory: ULC creates an inventory of community assets related to health when considering acquisitions including proximity to healthy food, physical recreation options and quality health care facilities.
- – Healthy Places: ULC engages neighborhoods in planning efforts to incorporate healthy community land use patterns to engage residents in daily activities that encourage movement, connections and fun.
- – Active Design: ULC encourages “activity oriented” developments and makes improvements to existing facilities to foster walking, biking, transit use and healthy diet.
“Investing in ULC is an investment in the health of a community. Creating real estate that provides the opportunity for connections and healthy living is crucial. We look forward to seeing the many improvements ULC has planned in their existing facilities and in their new developments, and showcasing how these active improvements benefit people who work, live and visit these properties,” explains Jesse Wolff, Director of Program-related Investments at the Colorado Health Foundation.
The Colorado Health Foundation has supported models that demonstrate how healthy places contribute to healthy people, and health-focused design must be part of every design and development. Thank you for your dedication in creating communities where healthy choices are the fun and obvious choices!
For more information about the Colorado Health Foundation, please visit www.coloradohealth.org