2007 Equal Opportunity Committee Report

By Gail Tate-Johnson, Chair
Equal Opportunity Committee

Our committee is charged with recognizing the value and importance of all cultural diversity within the CBR Membership and the Central Ohio communities that we serve, including opportunities to assist the emerging markets' unique housing needs. The Committee also seeks to encourage people of all cultural backgrounds to pursue a career in real estate and enhance career opportunities for diverse real estate agents through education, mentoring opportunities and financial assistance.

Last year, the committee was thrilled to be awarded a $5,000 NAR grant to implement a project this year to provide homebuyer training to prospective African buyers living in Central Ohio area. The proposed project is two-fold and will include language and cultural training for REALTORS® and homebuyer training for prospective buyers in the African community.

Currently there are approximately 103,000 African immigrants now living in the Central Ohio area, of which 49% own homes. A majority of the African immigrants living here are from Somalia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Gamia and Sierra Leone.

We are seeking assistance to help implement this project from anyone who has knowledge of the African culture of any of the aforementioned countries. If interested, please call Gretchen McKay 614-876-0808 or CBR Staff Marqué Bressler or Lynn Hackworth at 614-475-4000.

Other committee projects include the Mentor and Vendor Sponsorship Program, the Multi-Cultural Grant Program and grant fund raising activities.

The New Member Mentoring Sessions continues to be a huge success and are held the third Thursday of each month from 9:00-10:30am at CBR. This month's session is set for Thursday, April 19th and will feature one of our most popular topics - Successful Listing Presentations led by Brian Kemp, Keller Williams Capital Partners, Chris Reese, Metro II Realty and Sarah Walsh, Real Living HER. Together they bring a wealth of knowledge; come and learn from these experts on how it is done!

For the mentoring sessions, the committee has also instituted a Vendor sponsorship program, where for a fee of $100 vendors are given an opportunity to do a fiveminute presentation at the beginning of the mentoring session to introduce their goods and services. The fee benefits the Multi-Cultural Grant Program and the sponsorship program provides agents and vendors the opportunity to network, and to develop and grow business relationships. Cham Kahari with National City Mortgage is the sponsor for April 19th session.

We are always looking to recruit brokers and seasoned agents to participate as mentors and are now looking for sponsors for the remaining sessions. If interested in either, mentor or sponsor, please call Lynn at 614-475-4000.

The Multi-Cultural Grant Program provides financial assistance for newly licensed real estate agents to help with start-up cost. During the first funding period, this year, the committee awarded four grants.

In the past, our primary sources of funding for the grant has been raffles held at Awards Night and Sales Associates Day. Look for our raffle display table on April 18th. However, this year, we are planning to hold two additional fund raising events - A Wine Tasting Reception and a Talent Show. We know that there are quite a few talented CBR members and we are seeking you out! Be on the lookout for more information on these events in future issues of In Contract. In the meantime, should you want to be a part of the show (or want to recommend another agent), please call me at 614-838-1228 or Lynn at 614-475-4000.

As you can see, our committee has several activities on the agenda this year and would welcome participation by anyone interested in joining our group. There are seven meetings left this year and plenty of time for you to "GET INVOLVED" -- you can and do make a difference.

I would like to thank members of the Equal Opportunity Committee and our staff liaison, Lynn Hackworth, for all of their help in successfully implementing our committee projects, as well as the agents, affiliates and vendors who with their time, expertise, knowledge and gifts have been consistent supporters of the mentoring program. In addition, I want to thank all of you, in advance, for what we hope will be your continued support of our committee projects.