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REAP sows seed for diversity
Real estate program trains minorities for work in industry
LIZ SKINNER
Special to The Daily Record
Carla Merritt was tired of working as an operations manager at a commercial cleaning company, so she decided to pay $100 for a commercial real estate class. She hoped the investment would help her break into property management.
She joined about 25 other people in the Real Estate Associate Program’s 1999 class in Washington, and excellent scores won her a paid internship with Insignia ESG, one of the nation’s largest commercial real estate firms. That post, in turn, led to a permanent position with another firm.
Merritt is now a sales representative for a commercial leasing company in the Greater Washington region, and she says REAP—a training and networking program aimed at helping minorities find professional careers in real estate—was the key to reaching her goal.
“The networking that gets done on the golf course and through executive friends are avenues that are not always open to African Americans,” she says. “This program helped provide both the knowledge and the contacts [for me] to break in.”
That’s what Mike Bush, former vice president for real estate for Giant Food Inc., sought out to accomplish when he started the program in Washington in 1997. Bush has a background as a commercial lawyer, business executive and teacher, has a law degree from Harvard University, and a bachelor of arts degree from Stanford University. He has been an adjunct professor of real estate development at the George Washington University’s business school and a guest lecturer at the American University business school and Georgetown University’s law school.
In 2000, he retired from Giant to run REAP full time. He expanded the program to Atlanta in 2001 and now is eyeing Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.
“We’ve put almost two dozen people into the industry through REAP,” Bush said. “We’re pleased with the success rate so far.”
Not a ‘dropout’ program
The program is based on the idea that the lack of minorities in the commercial real estate industry is not an accident nor the result of discrimination, Bush said. It is because the business is not accessible through formal schooling, as is law, for example. People gain access through their personal networks, family, friends and colleagues.
The REAP course in Washington, held at Howard University, begins with a three-hour class once a week for 18 weeks. Professionals working for real estate companies teach the classes. Networking receptions are held during three of the evenings instead of class.
Those who take the class typically are not fresh out of school, nor are they dropouts. The average REAP students are 25 to 35 years old, have a bachelor’s degree and some experience in business. Often they are coming from other fields, including information systems, commercial appraisal, financial analysis, law and accounting.
Each year, about 150 to 200 people apply for the program in both Washington and Atlanta. REAP representatives hold about 60 interviews in both locations, and 25 applicants are accepted into each city’s class each year, Bush said.
The course focuses on enhancing property values by increasing net operating income and cutting risk, including study of financial concepts, budgeting, maintenance for office buildings, leasing strategies, renovation, keeping tenants, marketing and retailing.
After the 18-week class, which in Atlanta is offered through Clark Atlanta University, the top five to seven students are offered paid internships in the commercial real estate field.
Some of the graduates who have found jobs through the program didn’t even complete the internship phase before meeting industry contacts that led to a position. “That surprised us,” Bush said.
For some, taking the internship required a cut in pay. Salaries for associates from the 2002 class are in the $35,000 to $40,000 range.
“I was hesitant to take an internship where I was making half of what my salary was,” Merritt recalls. “But before the end of the internship, I had a connection to a permanent position.”
Industry support
Commercial real estate companies, foundations and groups, including the Urban Land Institute and the International Council of Shopping Centers Educational Foundation, sponsor the program. These two industry groups both contributed $50,000 to the program.
Other corporate sponsors include First Washington Realty, Giant Foods Inc., Washington Real Estate Investment Trust, Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty, Horning Bros., Jenco Group, Greenhoot-Cohen Co., and Rippeteau Architects.
Bush said the interest from companies willing to participate in the program—about two dozen in Washington and a dozen in Atlanta—has grown beyond what he expected. These supporting companies must agree to teach three evenings, attend three networking events and provide a 12-month paid associate position to a REAP graduate.
“The industry is very interested in changing the way it looks,” Bush said.
In addition to helping diversify the industry’s work force, commercial real estate professionals consider the program a great resource for finding educated, driven workers.
Rob Parker is another REAP graduate now working as a professional in commercial real estate. He manages a series of Maryland shopping centers in Frederick, Silver Spring and Gaithersburg, for Peterson Cos.
Parker’s boss, Peterson President Jim Todd, said if he had more openings at the company, he definitely would consider REAP a great resource for potential employees.
One of the best features of the program is its students study with people who actually are doing commercial real estate; they’re not just listening to those who know real estate in a classroom, Todd said.
Todd is a member of the Urban Land Institute, whose interest in REAP grew after a study it commissioned showed real estate executives do not place a high priority on hiring workers with diverse backgrounds and that the real estate industry still relies on an “old boy” network of inside referrals when recruiting employees.
“African Americans are definitely lacking in this industry,” said Merritt, who is African American herself and now works for Rappaport Cos., headquartered in McLean, Va. “I can count on one hand the number of other African Americans I know in the retail leasing business in Washington.”
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