A self-described “builder,” the outgoing executive director of the Builders of Color Coalition, Colleen Fonseca, is reflecting on how much the group has achieved in three years, and where it still wants to grow.
It can give long-time Black residents an equity stake in the vibrancy, safety and prosperity of their neighborhoods. A new guide I and my fellow scholars and developers wrote shows how to do it..
Efforts to diversify the largely homogeneous ranks of Massachusetts’ real estate developers hit a major milestone last week when MassHousing and the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp. (MHIC) formally started accepting applications for their Equitable Developers Fund.
Two of Massachusetts’ biggest affordable housing lenders are teaming up to launch a fund aimed at growing the state’s cadre of minority developers.
At the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, Juana Matias is on a mission to make sure knowledge about how to leverage federal affordable housing funds to build a career in housing development knows no color line.
A popular ranking of states’ business climates is beginning to put more emphasis on things like reproductive rights, equity and inclusion.
Boston leaders are eager to use the NAACP convention to cast off city’s reputation as a largely white place where racism still lingers. Big changes underway in the region’s commercial real estate and finance sectors can back that up, local executives say.
After the Supreme Court’s landmark affirmative action decision, eyes now turn to business leaders to see who will be the first to rein in their DEI. But when they do, their customers and employees will be watching.
It’s sometimes hard for us, residents of the Hub of the Universe, to imagine but our fair city doesn’t necessarily have the best reputation in other parts of the country. But we can all pitch in to help change that narrative when the NAACP’s annual national convention comes to the Boston July 26.
The U.S. Supreme Court may have only struck down colleges’ and universities ability to use affirmative action to make sure their student bodies are more diverse, but the head of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce is warning that the ruling could threaten local companies’ efforts to diversify their workforces.
Over the past 25 years, Project REAP – the Real Estate Associate Program, has sought to increase diversity in the commercial real estate industry and encourage mid-career transitions for people of color in other fields. A survey of the career academy’s 1,700 alumni confirmed that many have secured jobs and achieved significant career advancement and pay raises after graduating.
New impact funds are giving minority communities a chance to invest in real estate and economic development in Boston, after being shut out by federal securities laws. But not all potential investors need apply.
All it takes is one person who is willing to provide opportunities for others to learn and grow, and then scale from smaller projects to bigger ones. And developer Ralph Parent and his mentor Merrill Diamond show how success just begets more success.
Multifamily housing is vital to expanding upon the diversification of a community, local economy and environment. And following years of racial inequities, cities across the U.S. are working to make progress in their diversity, equity and inclusion strategies.
The real estate development industry has the power to change lives. Unfortunately, most of our industry is still operating with an “old playbook,” one that prioritizes financial benefit at the expense of social benefit.
A majority of women commercial real estate industry who left their job since the pandemic began did so to find career growth their old firm couldn’t provide.
Gentrification across Boston has created a significant shortage of affordable housing, in particular rentals that are too often beyond the reach of so many – especially young people of color.
Many brokerages and developers don’t have extensive recruitment programs that can help link Black, Latino and Asian college grads with opportunities in the commercial real estate industry. Into that breach stepped Cedric Bobo.
Gosder Cherilus, founder and CEO of Bastion Cos. and a former top NFL player, is making moves in Boston commercial real estate and fighting to open the industry to more Black- and Latino-owned firms.
Black real estate history is being made in Boston right now, thanks to some dedicated, hard-working people blazing trails in an industry that’s still mostly white.
