Traditional committees, like Membership, Sponsorship, and Programs have been struggling to sustain attendance at their respective monthly meetings. Members contact the ULI Orange County/Inland Empire office seeking ways to get involved in the ULI at the local level, unfortunately, their interests don’t seem to lie in making phone calls to professionals about lapsed membership or they have the time right now to get involved, but not the expertise in the subject of the next program on the calendar that the Programs Committee was working on.

On July 1, 2009, under Jeff Mayer's leadership as Chair of ULI Orange County/Inland Empire, the District Council moved to an exciting new structure that is designed to engage members based on their professional expertise and their passion in the industry. The traditional non-profit committees have been dissolved and seven new Initiative Councils are being formed. The Initiative Councils will represent ULI's seven priority initiatives. They will be modeled after the National ULI Product Councils, only these Initiative Councils will be open to Associate Members and Young Leaders Group Members (not just Full Members). All Initiative Councils will have a 30-member maximum. These 30 members will commit to attending four (quarterly) meetings in the new fiscal year, between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010. The objective is to create Initiative Councils of industry professionals, who get to know each other over the course of the year, by meeting regularly and sharing best practices and lessons learned. Discussions at Initiative Council meetings must allow for diverse consideration of issues that effect change. Openness is key! Participation on the Initiative Councils is limited to ULI Orange County/Inland Empire members and a commitment is required to attend the four Initiative Council meetings. The Initiative Councils will also be responsible for educating and effecting change in our membership and among industry professionals by organizing one large program and one small program in the fiscal year related to their respective topics.

Each Initiative Council will have a Vice Chair, who serves on the District Council Executive Committee. Other leadership positions on the Initiative Councils will include: an Assistant Vice Chair, a Vice Chair of Education, who focuses on the agenda for the meetings of the Initiative Council and on educating members of the Initiative Councils about ULI membership, and a Vice Chair of Outreach, who leads the organization of one large program and one follow-up Brown Bag luncheon per year on a related topic to the Initiative Council.

The District Council envisions the Vice Chairs of each Initiative Council meeting at least once a year, as well as the Vice Chairs of Education and the Vice Chairs of Outreach holding respective meetings. The objective is to promote cross-communication and cross-marketing within the seven Initiative Councils. Two new positions were created on the District Council’s Executive Committee, Vice Chair of Education and Vice Chair of Outreach. These positions are tasked with strategic planning and will integrate what the Initiative Councils are doing with the District Council’s overall strategic plan.

Looking at longevity of the Initiative Councils, the District Council also sees this as an opportunity to promote involvement in a National Product Council to Associate members and Young Leaders Group members. Providing a rich and rewarding experience at the local level, the District Council will reach out to the members of the Initiative Councils and suggest upgrading to Full membership and joining a National ULI Product Council. We have witnessed in this downturn, and it can be said that this is true of past downturns, too, that our Full members have provided membership stability in the Institute. It’s not too soon to be focusing on succession planning for the next up-cycle.