Posted on April 11, 2019
Susan Powers, President of Urban Ventures, LLC, was named the 2019 ULI Colorado Legacy Award recipient at this year’s Impact Awards for her career dedicated to the City of Denver.
Read below an excerpt from Sue’s closing remarks illustrating her commitment to always challenging the status quo and seeking out solutions to difficult questions through her transformative projects around Denver:
“What is our noble purpose? Can we think about development differently and have inclusive urban development as our way of doing business rather than as an after thought? Yes. It is harder and it takes longer and may impact your profit margin initially, but if we are going to have successful cities, we need to do our work differently. This shouldn’t happen because the City forces you to do it; it should be the way we think about every element of our work. …
I’ve chosen to work outside of the traditional development box and have seen what happens when we take a risk on small businesses or partner with a nonprofit or develop in neighborhoods who have been abandoned or I hire all women in my office (with millennials well represented) – it works and everyone is thriving.
I certainly don’t have all of the answers to the questions I’ve raised, but I do know that the people in this room have tremendous expertise and resources to invest in a different way of doing business so that Denver becomes the inclusive City we want to be. It will be hard work of both advocacy and investment but we all must step up to the changing times.”
Read more about the award here.