Penn IUR Announces Recipient of 14th Annual Urban Leadership Awards

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – The Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR) is proud to announce the recipient of its 14^th annual Urban Leadership Awards, which recognize leaders who are guiding cities toward a sustainable and vibrant future. The 2018 awardee is Elizabeth Julian, Founder and Senior Counsel of the Inclusive Communities Project, and former Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Annual Penn IUR Urban Leadership Awards recognize exemplary thinkers who have demonstrated the vision to revitalize urban centers, respond to urban crises, and champion urban sustainability in the United States and around the globe. This year’s awardee exemplifies a true urban visionary and the transformative effects such a leader can have on the cities in which she works.

Penn IUR will honor Ms. Julian’s work on April 11th at its 14^th annual Urban Leadership Forum entitled “Fair Housing, Fair Cities.” The Forum will feature a discussion between Ms. Julian and 2011 Penn IUR Urban Leadership Awardee Raphael Bostic, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and former Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Wendell Pritchett, Provost and Presidential Professor of Law and Education at University of Pennsylvania, will moderate the discussion.

All media interested in attending the award event on April 11^th can contact Deborah Lang at dlang@upenn.edu or 215.880.2372.

About the 2017 Awardee

Elizabeth Julian is Founder and Senior Counsel of the Dallas-based Inclusive Communities Project, which in 2015 won a Supreme Court case ruling that policies which even inadvertently cause segregation (“disparate impact”) are illegal under the Fair Housing Act. This landmark ruling will help to fully realize the original goals of the Fair Housing Act to not only prevent individual housing discrimination but also address the decades of systemic discrimination that led to segregated communities across the country. Prior to her work with Inclusive Communities, Ms. Julian served as Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Clinton administration, and has practiced poverty and civil rights law since the beginning of her career.

About the Penn IUR Urban Leadership Award

Since 2005, Penn IUR has recognized innovators in urban affairs through the Urban Leadership Award. Past recipients include: Rose Molokoane, Deputy President, Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) and National Coordinator, South Africa Alliance and the Federation of the Urban Poor (FEDUP); Victor Santiago Pineda, President, World ENABLED and Adjunct Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California-Berkeley; Michael Nutter, Former Mayor of Philadelphia; Renée Lewis Glover, Chair, Board of Directors, Habitat for Humanity International, and Former President and CEO, Atlanta Housing Authority; Martin O’Malley, Governor of Maryland, Sister Mary Scullion and Joan Dawson McConnon, co-founders of Project HOME Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT and former Mayor of Barcelona, Spain; Yael Lehmann, Executive Director of The Food Trust; Ridwan Kamil, Founder and Principal of Urbane Indonesia; Derek R.B. Douglas, Vice President for Civic Engagement, University of Chicago and former Special Assistant to President Barack Obama, White House Domestic Policy Council; Paul Levy, President and CEO, Philadelphia’s Center City District; Lily Yeh, Global Artist and Founder, Barefoot Artists; Raphael Bostic, Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Jane Golden, Executive Director, City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program; Shirley Franklin, Mayor, City of Atlanta, GA; Parris Glendening, President, Smart Growth Leadership Institute, and former Governor, Maryland; Bruce Katz, Vice President and Founding Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program, The Brookings Institution; William Hudnut III, Senior Fellow Emeritus, Urban Land Institute, and former Mayor, Indianapolis, IN; Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Mayor, City of Charleston, SC; and Donna Shalala, President, University of Miami and former Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

About Penn IUR

The Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR) is dedicated to advancing cross-disciplinary urban-focused research, instruction, and civic engagement on issues relevant to cities around the world. As the global population becomes increasingly urban, understanding cities is vital to informed decision-making and public policy at the local, national, and international levels. Penn IUR focuses on research that informs the sustainable and inclusive twenty-first-century city. By providing a forum for collaborative scholarship and instruction at Penn and beyond, Penn IUR stimulates research and engages with urban practitioners and policymakers to inform urban policy.