National Association of Real Estate Brokers

The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) was formed July 29, 1947, making it the oldest minority trade association in America.^[1] NAREB was established by African-American real estate professionals as an alternative for African-Americans who were excluded from the National Association of Realtors.

NAREB members are called Realtists and represent all professional disciplines within the real estate industry including residential and commercial real estate agents and brokers, loan officers, mortgage brokers, title companies, appraisers, insurance agents, and developers.

Headquartered in Lanham, Maryland, NAREB is governed by a board of directors and an executive committee composed of members and leaders, in the industry, from across America. Each local chapter continuously accepts new members.^[2]

History

NAREB was founded by twelve individuals, one woman and eleven men from seven states, across the United States. NAREB held its first convention at the Convention Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., on July 19–20, 1948.

At the NAREB National Mid-Winter Conference, in February 1968, in San Francisco, California, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke before the membership. A few months before he was assassinated, King talked about how a privately managed "Marshall Plan" similar to the one initiated in Europe following World War II, was what was needed to revitalize the inner cities of America. King stated that in America's inner cities a ten billion dollar investment over ten years, from the government, would help attract and develop new and/or maintain and improve existing businesses. In this revitalized urban economy, the employed inner city residents would become homeowners, he said, thus improving the social and economic climate of their communities.

Organization

NAREB’s 2015-2016 leadership includes Ron Cooper, President; Jeffrey Hicks, First Vice President; Donnell Williams, Second Vice President; Lydia Pope, Third Vice President, Derrick Jackson, Treasurer; Lawrence Butler, Assistant Treasurer; and Stacey Mollison, Secretary.

Over its 69-year history, two women have led the organization: Evelyn A. Reeves^[3] and Maria Kong.^[4] In 2005, Catherine Dorsey was named co-chairman of the NAREB. She was the first woman named to the post.^[5]

Affiliates

NAREB's affiliates consist of the following:

• National Society of Real Estate Appraisers
• Commercial Investment Division
• Investment Division
• United Developers Council
• Real Estate Management Brokers Institute
• Young Realtists Division
• Sales Division^[6]

Women’s Council of NAREB

The Women’s Council of NAREB is a nonprofit organization that focuses on community grassroots. The organization’s mission is to evaluate the standards of women in the real estate industry by facilitating leadership, education, and the exchange of information through group learning techniques; and to provide the opportunity for women to increase their knowledge and expertise of all facets of the real estate profession. Lydia Kirkland serves as the organization’s 2011 president. Founded in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1971, officers and bylaws were established and Laura Seale became the first president of the Women’s Council. Currently, it has over 18 chapters nationwide and women comprise 53 percent of the NAREB’s membership, with participation in all divisions and aspects of the organization.^[7]

Staff

NAREB, over the years, has operated mainly as a member managed organization. However, in 2001, Lee Bowman became the official Executive Director of NAREB, ultimately, serving in the role of the organization’s Executive Consultant, until 2004. Since 2000, he also had been President and CEO of Lee Bowman & Associates, a Baltimore community development and finance consulting company.^[8] Prior to joining NAREB, Bowman served for six years as Mid-Atlantic Regional Director; Director of Housing and Community Development at Fannie Mae.^[9]

Brenda Brown became the first woman to serve in the role of Executive Consultant for NAREB. Previously, at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), Brown developed a comprehensive diversity program^[10] based on former U.S. President Bill Clinton's initiative on race, One America Initiative.

In April 2015, Antoine M. Thompson, became the National Executive Director of NAREB. A former New York State Senator, former Buffalo City Council and former Executive Director for two other quasi-governmental not for profits. He is the author of Buffalo's Fair Housing Law and various city and state laws that promote workforce and business diversity. Thompson was hired to help transition the association to a corporate and staff driven organization bolstered by dedicated volunteers.

A leader known for his big ideas, consensus style of leadership and pushing for measurable results, Thompson has helped NAREB strengthen its members benefits programs, developed an online school school, implemented monthly educational courses for member business development. Thompson helped develop the concept for Black Homeownership Matters, NAREB's new initiative to create 2 million new Black homeowners. He has also enhanced NAREB's presence on Capitol Hill by helping to lead annual meetings with Members of Congress, H.UD. and the White House.

Current

In early August 2011, at its national convention in New Orleans, LA, NAREB announced a historic engagement with Wall Street investors to launch a $800 million Homeowner’s Assurance Program (HAP) to address the devastating effects of the housing mortgage crisis for African-Americans and other communities of color across the United States.^[11]

In March 2011, NAREB, along with two other organizations representing multicultural real estate professionals - the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) and the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) - convened at the Multicultural Real Estate & Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., to discuss regulatory and policy changes to preserve access to homeownership for people of color. As a result of that meeting the organizations issued a joint report entitled "The Five Point Plan: Refocusing the Future of Minority Homeownership."^[12]

In 2010, NAREB announced the formation of two partnerships with organizations focused on addressing the needs of communities of people of color. In July, NAREB partnered with Integrated Mortgage Solutions (IMS), the only woman-owned^[13] collateral protection firm offering resources for the mortgage servicing sector.^[14] Additionally, NAREB announced its partnership with PartnerFirst, LLC, a provider of resources to mortgage services and outsourcers, creating a certified, nationwide, and multicultural short sale agent network to help communities of color across the United States avoid foreclosure. ^[15]

References

External links

• National Association of Real Estate Brokers