It Takes A Village
OpenPath Investments’ “UrbanVillage” program allows residents at each property to choose the particular activities they want to engage in. “This isn’t a policy mandate from the top down. A complex in Phoenix may have different needs than a complex in Portland (Ore.). We fund the ideas that the residents come up with,” says Gino Borges, director of impact at OpenPath.

Participation in the program is voluntary, but “residents are very much inclined to participate, if you just set the stage and provide some guiding principles,” says Peter Slaugh, founder of OpenPath.

Borges says the UrbanVillage concept unlocks the aggregate value of a community for the individual. “The upper class likes to talk about the power of networking. But there’s a lot of social capital in our communities. We have nearly 2,200 units and anticipate going to 4,000 units over the next two to three years,” says Borges.

Examples of the value of social interaction abound. At one of the firm’s properties in Phoenix, an unemployed electrician was told about a potential job opening by another resident while both were attending an UrbanVillage event. “That opportunity doesn’t happen if people are just sharing apartment walls but not connecting,” says Borges.

A resident at another property in Arizona, a single mother on financial aid with a young son, was employed to help market the complex. The woman’s other son died two years ago and she’s been understandably depressed. “Here’s a woman who’s been struggling for a long time. All we did was give her some responsibility and she’s completely risen to the occasion,” says Slaugh.

At the firm’s newest property in Colorado Springs, Colo., the engineer responsible for renovations suggested using the giant flat-screen TV in the clubhouse to connect the residents, via Skype, with their relatives deployed overseas. About 40% of the units are occupied by military families because of the complex’s proximity to the U.S. Air Force Academy and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). “We do a once-a-month check-in with the guys and gals that are serving abroad. That’s an example of how we mold to the complexion of our resident base and address their needs,” says Slaugh.

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