TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A year ago a new initiative seeking to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion within the real estate industry was launched by The University of Alabama’s Alabama Center for Real Estate aiming to empower students and young professionals from underrepresented groups to make the real estate industry more accessible to them.
The initiative, now known nationwide as CORE program, the acronym for Career Opportunities in Real Estate, achieves this via an online scholarship driven credentialing program consisting of eight modules featuring self-paced commercial real estate career content, as well as professional development resources, soft skills training, and access to life coaching.
The 370 CORE graduates to date are awarded the CORE Ready Certification and now consider real estate a “career of choice, not chance”–the rallying cry resonating across the country.
The CORE program fills a defined gap within the real estate industry. Dr. James King, the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Culverhouse College of Business and a professor of management, said, “We know the need is great, as is the opportunity, and CORE and efforts like it present a momentous and historic effort to diversify the real estate industry.”
The program in only its first year has experienced explosive nationwide growth of 172 percent year-over-year, receiving 1,138 applicants from 40 states and 307 different schools, including many attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACUs), junior colleges and high schools.
Enrollment into the program is free for accepted students. This is made possible by the contributions of a growing list of Founding Partners who bring the CORE vision to life through their commitment to fund scholarships for qualified applicants, as well as educational content and mentoring. The three CORE cohorts in 2023 will start on Feb. 20th, June 12th, and Sept. 25th respectively and applications for each cohort are open for submission.
ACRE is housed within UA’s Culverhouse College of Business.
Three Additional Foundation Partners Announce Support
The CCIM Institute, SIOR Foundation along with Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) recently joined the ever expanding directory of foundation partners, which represents the highest level of CORE support, the equivalent of fifty or more sponsored scholarships.
“The Center deeply appreciates our founding partners for its industry leadership. Collaboratively, we are laser-focused on growing this industry-wide, game-changing workforce development initiative to bring awareness and job opportunities to the next generation of real estate professionals. These founding partners, along with others to be announced in the coming days, are impacting, elevating and inspiring CORE students to maximize their potential in the field of real estate,” said Grayson M. Glaze, Executive Director, Alabama Center for Real Estate (ACRE), The University of Alabama.
New sponsors of the CORE program articulated their support for its mission.
Stephen E. Budorick, Chief Executive Officer of COPT, said, “We are focused on creating environments that inspire success for businesses and their employees. People are the greatest resource to any company. Our partnership with CORE allows us to drive this mission further, by investing in workforce development to support the communities where we live, work, and serve.”
“CCIM Institute embraces and promotes diversity through our education, awareness, and business practices, and we are excited to work with the CORE initiative as a foundation partner,” says Leslie Callahan III, CCIM, 2022 CCIM Institute Global President. “The Institute shares the Alabama Center for Real Estate’s commitment to DEI — empowering and providing an opportunity to students who want to pursue a rewarding career in the commercial real estate industry.”
Ted Konigsberg, Chair of Grant & Scholarship Committee, says “The SIOR Foundation is thrilled to be a CORE Foundation Partner. CORE aligns perfectly with our central mission to Educate, Enhance, and Expand the commercial real estate community. We are looking forward to working with their excellent faculty to develop commercial real estate programs and tools, helping to create career opportunities for students.”
To learn more about CORE and apply to the program or support its mission, visit the website here.
CCIM Institute: Founded in 1967, CCIM Institute, the global leader in commercial real estate, has maintained a longstanding commitment to fostering an inclusive community of commercial real estate professionals. Comprising over 13,000 members and 55 chapters worldwide, CCIM represents all disciplines of commercial real estate. Through its diversity scholarship programs, educational courses, and business practices, CCIM Institute advances the professional growth of students in underrepresented groups with real-world education to build a foundation for successful careers in commercial real estate. For more information, visit www.ccim.com. Scholarships are also available through the CCIM Foundation.
COPT: COPT is a REIT that owns, manages, leases, develops and selectively acquires office and data center properties. The majority of its portfolio is in locations that support the United States Government and its contractors, most of whom are engaged in national security, defense and information technology (“IT”) related activities servicing what the Company believes are growing, durable, priority missions (“Defense/IT Locations”). The Company also owns a portfolio of office properties located in select urban/urban-like submarkets in the Greater Washington, DC/Baltimore region with durable Class-A office fundamentals and characteristics (“Regional Office Properties”).
SIOR Foundation: The SIOR Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, made up of SIOR (SOCIETY OF INDUSTRIAL AND OFFICE REALTORS® ) leaders from around the world. For over 80 years, SIOR has been and continues to be the leading global professional office and industrial real estate association. With 3,600 members in 45 countries and 722 cities, SIOR represents today’s most knowledgeable, experienced, and successful commercial real estate brokerage specialists. The Foundation’s purpose is to give back what we have learned throughout our careers by supporting initiatives that Educate, Enhance, and Expand the commercial real estate community through promoting best practices, responsible and sustainable development, and by educating the next generation of commercial real estate professionals.
