“We are thrilled to be MNCAR’s golf beneficiary this year,” says Stephanie Lee, managing partner at Global Street Partners, a women- and minority-owned brokerage, and co-lead of the CREDC. “This is a significant funding source to continue to advance our mission.”
The CREDC is a collaboration of multiple commercial real estate associations and individual members promoting and expanding diversity within the industry.
“Our mission is to have a more diverse commercial real estate industry where our professionals are demographically reflecting our communities,” explains Lee. “We do that by bridging resources and professional partners with diversity and talent. Our companies, our schools and our professional associations are our three stakeholders.”
Lee says the CREDC is very grateful for the sustaining, decade-long support and partnership it has had with MNCAR. Today, the organization has 24 sponsors -- companies and schools in the Twin Cities area.
“We are so thankful to MNCAR and appreciative of the financial support but also just having the press around the CREDC, so there's opportunity for people to continue to become aware of who we are and what we're doing and how they can get engaged,” notes Megan Duffy Sananikone, vice president of operations at Fluid Interiors and a co-leader of the CREDC. She specifically focuses on deepening the professional association partnerships with the CREDC.
The MNCR Golf Tournament proceeds will largely be used for the CREDC’s scholarship program, which was established in 2013 to support academically promising students with financial needs. Part of the CREDC’s strategy for encouraging diversity is awarding scholarships to minority students at area colleges and universities, aiming to introduce them to commercial real estate, while also providing a new pool of diverse talent for companies.
“We give out two rounds of scholarships each year – Spring and Fall,” says Lee. “Last year, we were able to give out four scholarships at $2,000 each.”
“Typically, behind the scenes, 99 percent of all funds we receive go to scholarships,” Lee explains. “Our entire Collaborative is run by passionate volunteers who are professionals in our industry. As such, we have very little operating expenses -- only our web hosting fees that we fund with our donations. Hence, the bulk of all sponsorships can go directly to benefiting the students directly.”
To date, 31 scholarships ($62,000 of financial support) have been awarded through the CREDC. The demographics of our industry, from over 10 years of CREDC efforts, have also looked noticeably different as well.
CREDC’s partnerships with professional associations is key to success
“The history of the CREDC spawned out of several professional associations,” Duffy Sananikone explains. “Initially, it was how do we collaborate on efforts when everyone in the industry is trying to focus on increasing diversity?”
Duffy Sananikone says the CREDC partners with professional associations to help understand what efforts they’re doing within their own associations that the CREDC can help support or be part of.
“Also, are there resources that they're missing that we can help be a connection to, so that they're not duplicating efforts,” she notes.
One way the CREDC helps is by aligning professional associations with diverse speakers for programs, for example.
In turn, the CREDC receives significant support from the associations. Some have donated to the scholarship campaign, for example, while others support the Collaborative through in-kind services.
Another part of CREDC’s role is helping educate young people about commercial real estate, as many BIPOC students aren’t aware of commercial real estate as a career. Companies typically find candidates through colleges, networking associations, and connections that are already established in commercial real estate, and they’re predominantly white and most are male.
“There’s definitely a gap there,” Duffy Sananikone says.
In addition to providing scholarships, the CREDC helps engage these young people, helps them network, explore different career paths in real estate, and find internships and employment.
“We can connect them with professionals to help them understand what it means to be a property manager vs. a broker?” says Duffy Sananikone. “What does a developer look like? And just help them find those connections and stay engaged, and that's one of the areas where we know professional associations are really good at.”
The CREDC encourages students to attend events at professional associations (and often accompanies them), so that they can network and see how these organizations can help support their development and growth once they enter the industry.
A call to action; providing opportunities for internships
Another way companies can contribute to the CREDC is to provide internship opportunities for BIPOC students. This summer, Lee hired five BIPOC interns at her brokerage firm, Global Street Partners, because she saw an opportunity to “walk the talk of what the CREDC does.”
One of the interns is from the recent University of Minnesota-CREDC partnership; the student graduated from the University in June. The other two interns are high school students at the International School of Minnesota. Lee has been running the Business Club at the International School for students of color who are interested in commercial real estate.
Lee also notes that these internship opportunities couldn’t be possible without the support of her clients, who have all graciously permitted them to sit in on their real estate meetings so they can learn the business first-hand.
“I love the collaboration and the willingness of my clients to allow a student to observe the meeting, even though there’s financial information and business strategies being discussed. I’m appreciative of their level of engagement to the cause as well,” Lee adds.
Another perspective: A former CREDC scholarship recipient, who now works in the industry and co-leads at the CREDC
“As a former scholarship winner, I’ve seen the impact the CREDC scholarship can have firsthand and know the value that this organization can have on emerging commercial real estate professionals of color,” says Ivan Alvarado, senior development associate at Alatus and co-lead at the CREDC.
Alvarado took a nontraditional path to get into real estate. After graduating from the University of Minnesota, he was an English teacher in Spain for three years (where he met his wife) and then came back to the Twin Cities where he went into the public sector, working for the 4th Judicial District Court.
“I felt that it was a great place to be, and I was really passionate about helping individuals, especially people who have been historically excluded from the court system. However, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was on the wrong side of the equation,” Alvarado says.
“I could help individuals with their legal problems, but the court system was very reactive,” he notes. “Even though I was on the advocacy side of the court, and we were helping people navigate the court system, people were never happy to see you, and many were stuck within the cyclical system. It’s similar to going to the doctor’s office, you normally don’t go before you have a problem but rather after.”
One day, Alvarado found an article about commercial real estate development, and it intrigued him.
He saw it as a vehicle for change.
“I thought to myself, ‘What is this industry?’ and I just went down the rabbit hole,” he notes. “I told myself that I needed to understand this better, and I saw the opportunity and impact that commercial real estate has as an investment vehicle, as a tool for creating generational wealth and keeping more people out of the criminal justice system. I told myself this is where I needed to be.
“My teaching hat came on and I knew that I wanted to teach others financial literacy,” Alvarado continues. “I have to try to help bring this knowledge to others, but first I have to learn the knowledge.”
It took him almost two years before he made the leap from District Court to the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, where he earned his MBA with a focus in real estate.
Alvarado interned at JLL doing market research while still in grad school. He also won the CREDC scholarship while at St. Thomas and later volunteered on CREDC’s communications team, which was a “great opportunity to meet other professionals who were like myself,” he says. “Different professionals of color who were interested in the industry and creating this solidarity and network, a pathway for other professionals of color to come into this industry and find support.”
Alvarado says the CREDC aligns with his goals and values. And while the scholarship was very helpful, he says the connections he made were invaluable, especially moving from the public sector to the private sector.
Now as a co-leader, Alvarado says one of the CREDC’s main focuses is really building those relationships and networking.
Alvarado worked for the Ackerberg Group in asset management and has been at Alatus since March 2022. He says both companies’ leaders have taken him under their wings, and he’s grateful for the opportunities.
Alvarado’s parents are from Ecuador, and he was born and raised in New York City’s Spanish Harlem.
His parents have had strong community service connections within the Ecuadorian community and were about giving back, and that resonated with Alvarado.
“I know what these opportunities mean, and I want to make sure to bring others to the table,” Alvarado says. “I might be the first in my family and community to be at this table, but I don't want to be the last.”