Imagining the Possibilities
Transforming Visions Into Reality
WHO ARE WE
We Are Thought Leaders
We Are Purpose Driven
We Are Capacity Builders
We Are Strategist & analyst
We Are Consensus Builders
Over 30 Years of Service Empowering Communities
Over the past 30 years, we have been honored to share our brand of leadership to help drive and empower economic development initiatives and wealth building entrepreneurial ventures.
We deliver three lines of service wrapped in our unique and comprehensive technical advisory structured to build our clients' internal capacities to transform visions into reality.
WHAT WE DO
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Our in-depth public policy, funding source knowledge and tactical contract compliance strategies have worked to deliver $150 million in local, state and federally subsidized resources, foundation grants and private capital to leverage over $1 billion in project value.
REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT COACHING
We take pride in providing hands-on results-oriented project development coaching with a unique capability to help our clients build internal capacity to assess deal structures and manage the development and construction projects in a compliant manner.
ORGANIZATIONAL AND ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT
UDC facilitates nonprofit and business enterprise operational and leadership assessments and with the integration of technologies and change management strategies to help our clients catalyze sustainable longterm accountable and mission driven growth.
We Created a Place for the "Band of Disruptive Catalyst" Working to Change the World!
- A Plethora of Industry Experts and Partners -
A wealth of best practice instructional webinars, live courses, podcast, work groups, industry forums and reference information as well as peer-to-peer knowledge sharing awaits you!
- Designed for Management and Frontline Team Members -
Tools to enhance industry specific technical expertise to help move entities and ventures to the next level and to stay ahead of the curve!
The Resiliency Studio is an online portal designed to Harness the Efficacy of Equitable, Efficient and Effective Economic Ecosystems. Our platform offers industry specific organizational and professional development “how to” methodologies for entities seeking to upskill their team and leadership and effectively sustain operations and scale. Our focus is to provide results-oriented pathways to connect talent with opportunities, catalyze businesses to scale and garner resources to create transformative community development projects.
Committed Leadership
Our team
Each day, the Urban Design Center team manages a multitude of matters across several project types and industries. Staying on point and keeping our fingers on the pulse of transitioning issues and best practice methodologies is a challenge we embrace and relish the opportunity to deliver best in class services.
We are inspired by the visions and dreams so boldly shared with us by our clients and know that it's not just about bringing a project or idea to fruition, it's about moving the needle of change and facilitating sustainable growth.
Sherri Franklin
Chief Executive & Visionary Officer
Urban Design Center (UDC) is an entrepreneurial journey Sherri began 30 years ago. Her mission is singular: Help transform community and economic development visions into reality. To date, Sherri has managed the land-use entitlement, capital development and project management for over $200 million in subsidized affordable housing, infrastructure improvement, economic development and enterprise expansion projects totaling over $1 billion in value.
The launch of the UDC Resiliency Studio platform is her vision for a shared brain trust of “how to” elements she and other community development leaders have amassed through their decades of work driving initiatives for community change. As the muse behind the Resiliency Studio, Sherri now spends each day working to create a cavernous treasure of resources, tools and opportunities to empower community developers and entrepreneurs to expand their capacities and soar! Her motto is always “Onward & Upward”.
David C. Morrison, IV
Chief Technology Officer
David keeps the systems and operations at Urban Design Center and our affiliated ventures humming. Our strategy to scale our services through our Resiliency Studio requires the integration of multiple software platforms and seamless communication networking to keep our clients, partners and members connected. David also leads our team and partner efforts to onboard new technologies for client operations.
A teacher by trade, David is works hand in hand with the Resiliency Studio professional development consultants to build their curriculums and structure their courses.
Business Development
Our team is highly engaged in building out the wealth of information, resources, tools, and capacity building opportunities hosted in our Resiliency Studio platform and offered through our Enterprise Solution networks.
Semone Tabb leads our business development efforts to stay ahead of the curb on corporate and government bid opportunities across each of our eight targeted industries and facilitates our strategy to structure collective bid responses for large scale procurement opportunities.
Strategic Alliance Partners
Our entire team works synergistically with our professional development partners to ensure we are presenting the most relevant and empowering methodologies, techniques and strategies to drive team performance and industry growth.