Greetings, here is my bio: Marty Kooistra is the executive director of the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle-King County, a 180-member association focused on affordable housing. Marty began his career as founder and CEO of a successful diversified construction business and, after earning a degree in social work, discovered the affordable housing sector offered a natural fit for his twin passions. He has been a champion of community revitalization, strategic alliances, and affordable housing for 32 years, serving in staff and board leadership roles both domestically and globally. When awarded an Archibald Bush Foundation Leadership Fellowship for study at the Joint Center for Housing in the Graduate School of Design and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the early 2000s, he worked with a kindred spirit, Professor Jane Wei-Skillern. Her research on networked nonprofits struck a chord, and Marty has been sharing the value of, and leadership principles for, networked nonprofits ever since.
Hello, Roberto Barragan is the Executive Director of the California Community Economic Development Association, a 200 member association committed to community revitalization in diverse urban and rural neighborhoods across the state of California. Roberto assists Community Development Corporations (CDCs), Community Action Agencies and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to plan, fund, establish and expand robust community economic development programs, including micro and small business lending programs, strategic and innovative community reinvestment solutions, as well as assist nonprofit organizations with social venture business plans and funding strategies as well as fund development plans and campaigns, and conceptualize, structure, fund and manage community led real estate projects, e.g. administrative offices, child development and training facilities, homeless shelters, affordable housing and commercial and retail projects that serve low and moderate income communities.
Hello, I am Luke Forrest, Executive Director for CEDAM (Community Economic Development Association of Michigan). CEDAM provides programs, training, and advocacy on behalf of the Michigan community development, economic development, and affordable housing industries. My entire career is in the government and non-profit sectors, with a particular emphasis on sustainable development.
I'll add that before getting into this world, I was a music critic and DJ. Big fan of the Neptunes going back to the mid-1990s. So Pharrell's involvement here, bringing those two worlds together, is all kinds of fun.
Hi all,
Hope everyone is doing well enough in these quarantine times.
My name is Samantha Suppiah. I'm a sustainability strategist in the field of urban design, architecture, engineering and construction. Originally from Singapore, I've spent the vast majority of my adult life in Europe, having returned to Southeast Asia at the start of 2020 to usefully contribute to accelerating sustainable design here.
I write to you today from the third-densest municipality in the world, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines (the top two also being in Metro Manila). Here, tall office buildings and condominiums have edged out informal settlements over the last couple decades while increasing, not reducing, inequality - echoing similar situations across the Global South.
Grateful to be able to learn from and contribute alongside all of you.
Hello everyone. My name's Will and I currently work in Healthcare analytics but am trying to do what I can with the rest of my time here to do what I can for the planet and humanity.
I'm a 'try to do something impossible and be pleasantly surprised by the amazing things you accomplish failing' sort and had been interested in groups like this for a while, but really wasn't in a place to do much until recently.
Some work a few of us did overlaps a lot with this, as the idea was to use existing systems to give any human the ability to be part of a collection of small consent-based societies that aren't held back by the dumb visions of people like me.
I'm hoping to participate in the conversation and perhaps add some flavor to the field of ideas.
Are there any other topic areas you would like to see the team explore next? What are some of the most pressing issues you would like to see addressed by the prize design?
I'm very interested in talking about a coherent 'meta-layer', I guess. Not a way to come up with plans, but a way for everyone who doesn't want to be part of the current grind to contribute to helping everyone while removing the power of Nations and unchecked Capitalism over them.
Nobody I know signed any of the national Constitutions that are causing all this trouble and we've got millions of young people who are being left a planet on fire. Stakes are pretty high.
In the past we'd discussed the idea of using the legal shell of a corporation to create a way for lots of small groups to thrive and experiment while not being held back by the vision of a few old men (I am an old man, and therefore should not be trusted either). I think some earlier convos were a bit premature but maybe now it's time to take something more systemic seriously.
We should be able to dedicate ourselves to saving the world while having fun just as easily as applying for a job at Wal-mart, if not more so.
Hi all - we've opened a new section of discussion! And a chance for you to help name this XPRIZE.
In our Prize Design & Parameters category we will be posting elements of the prize competition itself for input - and today you can vote in our poll (or suggest an idea) on a long-term name for what this XPRIZE will be called!
Head on over to the poll to vote and share your thoughts (and any ideas for a name you may have), and keep an eye on Prize Design & Parameters for new discussions soon around parameters for judging and competing, timelines, and more.
Hi, my name is Leah Peker. I am a structural engineering in NYC. I started my career a few years ago and am deeply interested in innovating the industry. I believe that we can make the construction industry more efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective by rethinking the way we design. When we have the "why", it's all about finding the "how".
Alan Greenspan here, linkedin.com/in/alanjgreenspan, failed many startups the past 10 years in the field of sustainability, from a solar clothing line, to an algae lamp, modular aquaponics, and now slowly working on an idea to solve wealth inequality: real estate.
Nes.city's vision is to 'eliminate rent', by turning tenants into co-investors, turning rental apartments into fractional rent-to-own, and even have companies invest in fractional ownership of real estate to bring down the cost of housing.
I envision in this potentially financial education/investing platform the ability to chat with landlord/tenant/neighbhours, to analyze how to improve the value of the land & the neighborhood, to promote growth together.
So eventually,municipalities could enforce a % of land to be rent-to-own within the city, while offering special municipal bonds as added benefits, to promote building wealth for those living in the bottom of the pyramid.
Comments
I'll add that before getting into this world, I was a music critic and DJ. Big fan of the Neptunes going back to the mid-1990s. So Pharrell's involvement here, bringing those two worlds together, is all kinds of fun.
Hope everyone is doing well enough in these quarantine times.
My name is Samantha Suppiah. I'm a sustainability strategist in the field of urban design, architecture, engineering and construction. Originally from Singapore, I've spent the vast majority of my adult life in Europe, having returned to Southeast Asia at the start of 2020 to usefully contribute to accelerating sustainable design here.
I write to you today from the third-densest municipality in the world, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines (the top two also being in Metro Manila). Here, tall office buildings and condominiums have edged out informal settlements over the last couple decades while increasing, not reducing, inequality - echoing similar situations across the Global South.
Grateful to be able to learn from and contribute alongside all of you.
I'm a 'try to do something impossible and be pleasantly surprised by the amazing things you accomplish failing' sort and had been interested in groups like this for a while, but really wasn't in a place to do much until recently.
Some work a few of us did overlaps a lot with this, as the idea was to use existing systems to give any human the ability to be part of a collection of small consent-based societies that aren't held back by the dumb visions of people like me.
I'm hoping to participate in the conversation and perhaps add some flavor to the field of ideas.
Good meeting everyone!
A lot of you have commented already on our latest threads, thank you! They are:
Are there any other topic areas you would like to see the team explore next? What are some of the most pressing issues you would like to see addressed by the prize design?
Nobody I know signed any of the national Constitutions that are causing all this trouble and we've got millions of young people who are being left a planet on fire. Stakes are pretty high.
In the past we'd discussed the idea of using the legal shell of a corporation to create a way for lots of small groups to thrive and experiment while not being held back by the vision of a few old men (I am an old man, and therefore should not be trusted either). I think some earlier convos were a bit premature but maybe now it's time to take something more systemic seriously.
We should be able to dedicate ourselves to saving the world while having fun just as easily as applying for a job at Wal-mart, if not more so.
In our Prize Design & Parameters category we will be posting elements of the prize competition itself for input - and today you can vote in our poll (or suggest an idea) on a long-term name for what this XPRIZE will be called!
Head on over to the poll to vote and share your thoughts (and any ideas for a name you may have), and keep an eye on Prize Design & Parameters for new discussions soon around parameters for judging and competing, timelines, and more.
And thank you for all of your input so far! We're excited to engage you with this important new phase of the prize design.. @FreeWilliam @samanthasuppiah @HousingMichigan @RBarragan @mkooistra @csmith102462 @JimKing @ashokjain @Rwyse @Nirmita @alexadlp @LisaHomesFund @bngejane @Jefferson @fferguson @RachitaMisra @dpelleti @Greenduck @sunshinem @SRashkin @annedodge @FanyuLin @sglaude1 @prernakuhad
Nes.city's vision is to 'eliminate rent', by turning tenants into co-investors, turning rental apartments into fractional rent-to-own, and even have companies invest in fractional ownership of real estate to bring down the cost of housing.
I envision in this potentially financial education/investing platform the ability to chat with landlord/tenant/neighbhours, to analyze how to improve the value of the land & the neighborhood, to promote growth together.
So eventually,municipalities could enforce a % of land to be rent-to-own within the city, while offering special municipal bonds as added benefits, to promote building wealth for those living in the bottom of the pyramid.