NAIOPWA acknowledges the impacts of racism on the built environment and within the commercial real estate industry. We stand with our community in solidarity against systemic racism, unconscious bias and all forms of inequality and injustice, including police brutality, which disproportionately affect people of color and specifically, Black people.
We will further educate ourselves, our members and the CRE community about the intersections of race and real estate. We will look to support local, state and national policies that move to dismantle racism. We will remove barriers to make our membership more diverse, equitable and inclusive.
NAIOPWA and its passionate community of commercial real estate professionals have an opportunity to make a difference. Here are some of the programs and initiatives we have worked on in the past, and those we continue to advance.
In 2017, NAIOPWA initiated a diversity task force to gather minority high school students at Seattle’s UW campus for an extraordinary long weekend of immersion, focused on CRE career opportunities, college experiences and peer connection.
A year later, the NAIOPWA Diversity & Inclusion Committee was born. The D&I committee’s work to date includes:
- Programming for current CRE professionals and firms such as how to build D&I initiatives within existing CRE firms and how to address implicit bias.
- Engaging high school students with the Hip Hop Architecture Camp, a program using music to increase the understanding of architecture and expose career paths within CRE.
- Organizing a summer fellowship program to support college-age summer interns in local CRE firms.
- Hosting roundtable events which offer a safe space to discuss diversity and inclusion issues in the industry.
- Working to remove financial barriers to NAIOPWA membership.
- Developing a database of resources available to increase understanding of systemic racism, as well as resources for companies to assess and improve opportunities for inclusion.
Please watch for future announcements, and plan to register to attend two upcoming NAIOPWA events focused on race and real estate. On June 30, join us for a candid webinar to discuss racial barriers in CRE, and on July 15, meet over breakfast to discuss the intersection of race and real estate, including lasting effects of past regulations, such as redlining.
This is our time to take a step back and listen to our community. NAIOPWA is interested in hearing your ideas. If you would like to participate in this conversation or join a committee that is focused on these issues, please contact [email protected].