SUSTAINABLE URBAN HOUSING WINNERS ANNOUNCED: THE BEST GLOBAL SOLUTIONS FOR BUILDING LIVEABLE AND INCLUSIVE CITIES

WASHINGTON - Three winners emerged today from the global collaborative competition: Sustainable Urban Housing: Collaborating for Liveable and Inclusive Cities competition, hosted by Ashoka's Changemakers, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation. The competition identifies innovative solutions for providing sustainable, energy efficient housing in a way that unleashes economic opportunities for the urban poor, and builds smarter, cleaner cities around the world.

"These winning solutions are models for effective collaboration between historically marginalized populations and community leaders to build the cities of the future today," said Diana Wells, president of Ashoka. "They can potentially be applied to rapidly urbanizing populations anywhere, and will help reshape the most urbanized region in the developing world: Latin America and the Caribbean."

The public voted for the three competition winners from a slate of 11 finalists. The finalists had been selected from a pool of 250 entries, submitted from 48 countries, by an international panel of expert judges. The judges selected the solutions that best demonstrate innovation, social impact, and sustainability in the field of urban housing development. The winning entries will each receive US $10,000 to scale-up their initiatives.

In addition to receiving US $10,000, the winners will be showcased and reviewed at an event that closes the competition in June 2011 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

The three winners are:

• Developing Real Estate for Squatters and Tenants of the City of Buenos Aires Argentina (www.changemakers.com/node/96796), Argentina
• Zero Waste, Sustainable Architecture, Renewable Energy: Unlimited Source of Renewable Materials for Sustainable Housing (www.changemakers.com/node/99578), Brazil
• Green Development Zone (www.changemakers.com/node/97522), USA

"We congratulate the winners of the Sustainable Urban Housing competition, and have been proud to support Ashoka Changemakers for developing such a unique and innovative competition that has been successful in tapping the best ideas aimed at solving the world's most pressing challenges," said Benjamin de la Peña, Associate Director at the Rockefeller Foundation.

This competition was launched in anticipation of the 2012 Summit of the Americas, and in support of U.S. President Barack Obama's Energy and Climate Partnership for the Americas (ECPA). It is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, and is a joint effort of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of State, and the American Planning Association with support from the Brazilian Ministry of Cities.

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.

About Ashoka's Changemakers

Ashoka's Changemakers is a community of action that connects social entrepreneurs around the globe to share ideas, inspire, and mentor each other. Through its online collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers.com is one of the world's most robust spaces for launching, discussing, and funding ideas to solve the world's most pressing social problems. Changemakers builds on Ashoka's three decade history and belief that we all have the ability to be a Changemaker. www.Changemakers.com.

About the Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation fosters innovative solutions to many of the world's most pressing challenges, affirming its mission, since 1913, to "promote the well-being" of humanity. Today, the Foundation works to ensure that more people can tap into the benefits of globalization while strengthening resilience to its risks. Foundation initiatives include efforts to mobilize an agricultural revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa, bolster economic security for American workers, inform equitable, sustainable transportation policies in the United States, ensure access to affordable and high-quality health systems in developing countries, accelerate the benefits from impact investing to the poor and vulnerable, and develop strategies and services that help vulnerable communities cope with the impacts of climate change. For more information, please visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org.

About the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable housing. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes; utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. www.hud.gov | espanol.hud.gov.

About the American Planning Association

The American Planning Association is an independent, not-for-profit educational organization that provides leadership in the development of vital communities. APA and its professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners, are dedicated to advancing the art, science and profession of good planning - physical, economic and social - so as to create communities that offer better choices for where and how people work and live. Members of APA help create communities of lasting value and encourage civic leaders, business interests and citizens to play a meaningful role in creating communities that enrich people's lives. APA has offices in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, IL. www.planning.org.

About the U.S. Department of State

The U.S. Department of State, headed by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, carries out U.S. President Barack Obama's foreign policies for the American people. The Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs is headed by Assistant Secretary of State Arturo A. Valenzuela, who is responsible for managing and promoting U.S. interests in the region by supporting democracy, trade, and sustainable economic development, and fostering cooperation on issues such as citizen safety, strengthening democratic institutions and the rule of law, economic and social inclusion, energy, and climate change. www.state.gov.

More about the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA)

U.S. President Barack Obama invited all countries of the region to join the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in April 2009. Joining ECPA is voluntary, allowing governments, Inter-American organizations, private industry, and civil society to lead or participate in initiatives focused on energy efficiency, renewable energy, cleaner fossil fuels, infrastructure, energy poverty, sustainable forests and land use, and adaptation. ECPA is intended to help foster welcoming government policy environments that encourage low carbon development, as well as act as a tool to identify areas where assistance is needed. Any government in the hemisphere can lead an initiative, as well as offer its own financial support to implement activities or seek financing from public and private institutions and multilateral development banks. Progress and information is shared on the Organization of American States' ECPA clearinghouse at www.ecpamericas.org.