Volunteer for UrbanPlan
Volunteering with Urban Plan is a great way to interact with students, share your subject matter expertise, and connect with fellow ULI members. More ULI members volunteer through UrbanPlan than any other ULI program. Volunteers make a huge impact in the classroom and have the flexibility to work around demands on their schedule.
Volunteer Training Requirement
Before serving as a classroom volunteer, members first participate in a required 2-hour virtual training followed by a 3-hour in-person facilitation, where they are assigned roles on a development team and engage in a “lightning-round” version of the exercise. Once trained, you are encouraged to sign-up for opportunities to volunteer in the classroom, which range from 1 to 3 hours. Volunteers are expected to perform their responsibilities in a fashion that aligns with the ULI Code of Ethics and advances the ULI Mission.
UrbanPlan volunteer training sessions occur a couple times per year and will be published here when available.
- Upcoming volunteer training opportunity on July 12, 2023: APPLY HERE
The training is a 2-hour virtual instructional session followed by a 3-hour in-person facilitation.
Common Volunteer Roles
Facilitator: Facilitators engage in Socratic interaction twice with the student teams over the course of the 15 class hour project and prior to the presentations. This process is transformative to the students’ insights and capacities.
City Council: The “City Council” hears the student proposals, challenges them as would a City Council, and awards the development contract to the winning “developer.”
Presenter: create an interactive session with the students on an aspect of their work that relates to the issues and decisions the students are struggling with in UrbanPlan.
Interested in Volunteering?
The next volunteer training will take place on July 12, 2023 in Center City Philadelphia. Learn more and apply today.
Apply to be an UrbanPlan Volunteer
APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED through Friday, June 30, 2023. Applicants will be notified by July 6 of their acceptance. Please note, trainings are capped at about 25 people and are often oversubscribed. We make every attempt to balance diversity of discipline, demographics, and experience in selecting each cohort.