{"id":1004544641,"date":"2021-07-23T05:44:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T13:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004544641"},"modified":"2022-12-08T22:59:11","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T06:59:11","slug":"is-cre-becoming-more-inclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/is-cre-becoming-more-inclusive\/","title":{"rendered":"Is CRE Becoming More Inclusive?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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NAI Miami Partner Timothy Merriman <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In Atlanta\u2019s biggest lease of 2020, T. Dallas Smith & Co. helped Microsoft Corp. lease 523,000 square feet<\/a> at Atlantic Yards. T. Dallas Smith is a boutique brokerage firm and Microsoft is the second-largest corporation in the world. But the assignment was noteworthy for another reason as well. T. Dallas Smith is a Black-owned firm, and Black people are still vastly underrepresented in commercial real estate brokerage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firms across the industry have promised to increase opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds. Is meaningful progress being made? What can be done to facilitate change? NAI Global\u2019s Diversity Equity & Inclusion Council presented a webinar this week to examine those questions in the commercial brokerage field.<\/p>\n\n\n

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READ ALSO<\/strong>: Real Estate Has a Diversity Problem. Will This Moment Lead to Real Change?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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Moderated by Genieve Posen of NAI Sun Vista, the panel featured NAI Michael Vice President Marcus Daniels, NAI Miami Partner Timothy Merriman, and NAI Latter & Blum Commercial Sales & Leasing Agent Chris Ross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The executives, each of whom has broken barriers themselves, said they were encouraged by the heightened focus on DEI and on the collaboration taking place within firms and among professionals. That collaboration is a signal that DEI is not just a buzzword for commercial real estate, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m starting to see more and more people of color, not just Blacks but across the board, who are now becoming aware that this is a career,\u201d Merriman said. \u201cI\u2019m finding more and more African Americans already in this space but operating in the shadows. I am seeing more and more of them step out to want to teach and to give back. And they\u2019re<\/em> reinvigorated. They were trying to do it on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there was also a consensus that a lot of work still needs to be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NAI Michael Vice President Marcus Daniels <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you think of the communities we are active in, whether it is Washington, D.C., or New Orleans or New Mexico or Miami,\u201d Daniels said. \u201cA lot of those communities are very diverse communities and communities of color. The industry should be more reflective of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The executives also agreed on the importance of minorities not just getting \u201cthe carveout\u201d assignments but also getting the big RFPs\u2014like the one that T. Dallas Smith got from Microsoft in Atlanta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to just be hired,\u201d said Ross. \u201cWe want to be successful and serve the communities we represent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what are the main barriers to entry for people of diverse backgrounds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the main challenges the panelists discussed was lack of awareness about commercial real estate as a profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people of color, for example, Merriman said, may not find out that commercial real estate is an option until after they have already started a career in something else. It may then be difficult for them to leave the security of their income to start at the bottom at a brokerage firm where they may be one of only a handful of people that look like them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another significant hurdle for underrepresented groups is the lack of relationships, since many do not have family members who have been in the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are literally starting off with absolutely nothing except for whatever scholastic knowledge we have,\u201d Merriman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of solutions, a number of recommendations emerged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NAI Sun Vista Advisor Genieve Posen<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The panelists agreed that early exposure to the field through more youth and college mentorship programs\u2014like those offered by the National Black MBA Association and the Real Estate Associate Program\u2014would help improve the pipeline of minority candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along those lines, this month Apollo Global Management, Ares Management Corp. and Oaktree Capital Management announced that they are funding a 10-year, $90 million initiative designed to enhance the recruitment of Black talent <\/a>in the alternative investment field. The program, \u201cAltFinance: Investing in Black Futures,\u201d is being launched in partnership with three historically black colleges: Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Spelman College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMentorship is everything in this industry, and I think we can all attest to that,\u201d said Posen. \u201cEven at the smallest scale \u2026 What are those little things you can do? It is the sum of the little bits that I think could also still really move the needle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panelists also encouraged greater intentionality on the part of commercial real estate firms and individuals to raise minority representation in their ranks as well as their client lists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ross noted that many of his clients are being very intentional about working with professionals of diverse backgrounds. Therefore, he is actively encouraging his clients to bring more minority service providers in allied fields onto assignments, and he is also making an effort to bring more people of color into the profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve taken it on as a personal mission to get more of us into the field, to disrupt the business, to bring more residential brokers into the fold to communicate to them that the commercial real estate industry can be very integral,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NAI Latter & Blum Commercial Sales & Leasing Agent Chris Ross <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Who is responsible for moving progress forward? According to the panelists, its everyone: the businesses, the clients, the communities and individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we are talking about accountability, it is really making sure people are going to do what they say they are going to do because we are held to that standard when we are working for our clients,\u201d said Daniels. \u201cWe expect the same thing from companies and leaders in our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way to ensure that progress, the panelists noted, is through key performance indicators and scorecards that track recruitment, mentorships and advancement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media\u2019s help is also critical, Daniels noted. \u201cWe can have this conversation with 100 or 200 people, but when it goes into HuffPost<\/em> or The Wall Street Journal<\/em> or The New York Times<\/em> or The<\/em> Washington Post<\/em>, it is amplified in a different way and that is the kind of awareness and accountability that is needed as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the panelists said, it is incumbent upon professionals of diverse backgrounds who have made it \u201cto the other side\u201d to not only educate their communities on commercial real estate but, once new entrants arrive, to train them sufficiently so that they are eventually ready to take on assignments of any size or difficulty, Merriman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAI Global’s Diversity Equity & Inclusion Council held a webinar on the status of progress in the commercial brokerage field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":756,"featured_media":1004544805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21784,21781,23891,21742],"tags":[34229,51454,38501,51455],"class_list":["post-1004544641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brokerage","category-corporate-real-estate","category-national","category-latest","tag-nai-global","tag-nai-latter-blum","tag-nai-michael","tag-nai-sun-vista"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs CRE Becoming More Inclusive? - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/is-cre-becoming-more-inclusive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is CRE Becoming More Inclusive?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NAI Global's Diversity Equity & Inclusion Council held a webinar on the status of progress in the commercial brokerage field.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/is-cre-becoming-more-inclusive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-23T13:44:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-09T06:59:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2021\/07\/DEIhands.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Therese Fitzgerald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/is-cre-becoming-more-inclusive\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/is-cre-becoming-more-inclusive\/\",\"name\":\"Is CRE Becoming More Inclusive? 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