Application

The Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence is not currently seeking candidates for a fourth fellowship cohort for its national fellowship program. Our decision to postpone the offering of a fourth cohort did not come lightly, and we are currently conducting a national market study to position the program to make fellowships available in the future. We very much appreciate the interest and support that everyone has shown in our national program and we look forward to making advancements that will continue to serve the urban redevelopment field, and the talented individuals who contribute to its progress.

One way we are currently contributing to the field involves the Rockefeller Foundation Redevelopment Fellowships. Made possible by a generous grant from The Rockefeller Foundation, this new fellowship program is adapted from the Center’s national fellowships and will serve to build long-term capacity for urban redevelopment in the New Orleans region. For more information on the Rockefeller Foundation Redevelopment Fellowships, please click here.

Please continue to participate in our listserv for announcements regarding Center activities both nationally and in the New Orleans region. We would like to incorporate your input when shaping the timing and application process for future national fellowship rounds. Please take our future fellowship survey to share with us your feedback and perspectives on how valuable you find our national fellowship program and other Center activities currently under consideration which we have described below.

We are considering the development of additional and auxiliary services to those provided by the national fellowship program that could add value to the industry and those seeking opportunities within it. A few efforts currently under assessment include the following:

Expanding our job referral activities. The Center is currently considering how much value our constituents would place on a more systematic referral service for the niche of the real estate industry devoted to large-scale redevelopment with direct benefits for low income people and distressed neighborhoods. Elements of this systematic referral service may include reviews of individuals’ resumes and work experience in consultation with practitioners in the field, assessments of the types of roles individuals have the experience and desire to play, and referrals to employers that have informed the Center of jobs available.

Securing status for Center-developed academic courses in the standard curriculum of the Department of City and Regional Planning. In spring, 2006, the Center piloted seven academic courses based on the initial training fellows receive before taking up their placement jobs. The courses were offered through the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of City and Regional Planning. As a package, the courses are geared to provide a well-rounded foundation for work as a project manager of large-scale urban development projects that have direct benefits for low income people and distressed communities. The courses have now been refined into a package of 10, based on feedback from the Center’s third cohort fellows, University of Pennsylvania students, and Philadelphia-area working professionals who took the courses in the pilot year. This fall, the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of City and Regional Planning will be considering whether to include Center training courses in their standard curriculum. If approved, courses would be offered in Philadelphia on the campus of University of Pennsylvania. They would be open to traditional University students and potentially Philadelphia-area working professionals as well.

Broadening access to the Center’s urban redevelopment curriculum through other academic- or executive-style training in other parts of the country. The Center is exploring arrangements to offer training, based on the same curriculum offered through academic courses at the University of Pennsylvania in spring, 2006, in other parts of the country. The training may be offered in either academic or executive training formats. We are most interested in gathering information on which subjects are of most interest and what training formats would be most convenient and accessible.