NAWRB Magazine Volume 10, Issue 1 Real Estate Change

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Real Estate Changes Vol. 10 / Issue I

NDILC's Top Ten Women Leadership Principles Page 6 Our Blue Planet Page 20 Maintaining Family Communication, Collaboration, and Connection Page 59 Going for the World Record! Page 29

Teresa Bryce Bazemore Page 42

$20 USD


Real Estate Change Volume 10, Issue I

Things have evolved as we progress through the 4th Industrial Revolution with the accelerator of the pandemic! In 2018, NAWRB officially received the trademark “Technology Human Balance” realizing our future and the speed of change was going to change forever. Well, maybe not? After 14 months of the world being in varying stages of a lockdown, under all the logistics and complexities, we have taken a step back to reevaluate our lives. Our priorities and how we adjust to live, love, and appreciate our true “Quality of Life” is now front and center! Introducing our Real Estate Change Volume 10, Issue I NAWRB Magazine with captivating stories across a wide spectrum of the Greater Housing & Real Estate Ecosystem. From Our Blue Planet, Creating Fair and Equal Housing Opportunities, to Who Care for Caregivers and Going for the World Record, we challenge the mind to embrace, open our thoughts and hearts to just be better! NAWRB’s sheCENTER(FOLD) Teresa Bryce Bazemore, came out of retirement to become the next CEO of Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. Her story is one of emotional impact that inspired her to create a legacy of change. Her short-lived semi-retirement hasn’t been a cakewalk, but she does make cakes for dogs! We all are in this together to uphold and enrich the Quality of Life for all! Thank you for your resources and contributions as we continue to curate and bring exceptional value to the greater community.

Desirée Patno, CEO & President of NAWRB Chairwoman of NDILC


Executive

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Desirée Patno

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Christy LaSalle

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS

Jay Jones Veronica Cheng

Teresa Palacios Smith Tami Bonnell Rebecca Steele Brateil Aghasi Dr. Chitra Dorai Susan Harrison Hazel Mann Natasha Benjamin Angie Weeks Angella Goran Jean Sunwoo Teresa Bryce Bazemore Antoine M. Thompson Marty Dutch

/NAWRB

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NAWRB Magazine is a quarterly publication with gender lens perspective, featuring unique content, articles on diversity, inclusion and engagement in the housing ecosystem, exclusive interviews with industry professionals, business development tools, book reviews, feature stories and more. All materials submitted to NAWRB Magazine are subject to editing if utilized. The articles, content, and other information in this publication are for information purposes only, but do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of NAWRB. NAWRB assumes no liability or responsibility for any inaccurate, delayed or incomplete information, nor for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

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Knowing the Rules of the Game : ®

Demystifying Credit By Rebecca Steele

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Consumer preferences and the rapid pace of financial service innovation are helping expand borrowing options faster than ever before, which can help lead to greater financial inclusion and an improved economy. The upsides to having more access to loans and lines of credit are clear, but there are some who may find themselves over leveraged and in need of guidance as they navigate the waters of the credit pool. As mentioned in the “Know the Rules of the Game” podcast, the credit pool does have a lifeguard and it’s a good idea to get to know them before a crisis. It is equally important to know when to reach out for help and what to expect.


Access to Capital

"ONE RECENT LATE PAYMENT ON YOUR CREDIT REPORT COULD CAUSE A CREDIT SCORE TO DROP AS MUCH AS 180 POINTS."

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loan. Catching the early warning signs can help prevent things from getting out of control. Lack of savings or the ability to regularly contribute to savings is a clear warning sign that help is needed to avoid a financial crisis. Once payments start falling behind, there is no more time to waste before reaching for that lifeline.

Where to Turn

That brings us to the challenge of finding the right resource for guidance and solutions. It’s not often clear which way to turn for confidential, objective and comprehensive financial guidance. While some experts wrongfully advise people to avoid communicating with their creditors in order to influence negotiating power for a settlement, it is better to operate in the open and share relevant information about your circumstances and your intentions. Creditors are more likely to work with you to find a way to overcome financial setbacks. It is also true that creditors recognize and understand the role of nonprofit credit counseling agencies who are members of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC). These trusted organizations serve all who could benefit from professional financial advice as they seek to improve financial wellbeing, even during a personal financial crisis.

NONPROFIT COUNSELING IS ASSOCIATED WITH A LARGE REDUCTION IN REVOLVING DEBT When it comes to managing your finances, the challenge of keeping credit and loan payments on track can change from year to year or month to month. We also know that too many Americans are woefully unprepared to face financial emergencies due to a lack of sufficient savings, which places them at an elevated risk when it comes to balancing their financial obligations. The coronavirus pandemic has left many households in a place where savings is nonexistent because of extended job loss or salary cutbacks. Without savings, a temporary problem with a monthly payment can become a long-term issue.

Warning Signs of Financial Stress

According to FICO, one recent late payment on your credit report could cause a credit score to drop as much as 180 points. That missed payment ratchets up the pressure on an already strained budget, which could create a ripple effect leading to problems with other key priorities such as a mortgage or auto

An ongoing study conducted by researchers from The Ohio State University reveals that nonprofit counseling is associated with a large reduction in revolving debt, which includes credit card debt. This helps clear the way for financially distressed individuals to recover from their financial setback and achieve long-term objectives such as home ownership. If you are an individual who is struggling with repayment of your credit obligations or if you are a lender/underwriter/financial advisor working with someone in that situation, consider the short and long-term value of nonprofit credit counseling provided by the NFCC network of counselors. To find out more or to connect with a counselor, visit NFCC.org or call 800-3882227.

Rebecca Steele

President & CEO National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) NAWRB MAGAZINE |

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2021 NAWRB Leadership Awards Now Accepting Nominations! The 2021 NAWRB Leadership Awards honor women leaders in the housing ecosystem who are utilizing their expertise and passion to break glass ceilings in the corporate world and facilitate the growth of their local communities. This year's award theme is Technology Human Balance® as we recently marked one year since our transition to the realm of digital interfaces and virtual work.

Leadership Award Categories: Government Official Leader º Nonprofit Leader º Board Leader º Family Office Leader º Diversity & Inclusion Leader STEM Leader º Finance Leader º Women-Owned Business Leader º Consumer Advocate Leader º Residential Leader Corporate Leader º Commercial Leader º Media Leader º Veteran Leader º Mentor Leader

Nomination Form:

tinyurl.com/2021NLA

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Deadline:

June 30th, 2021


Leadership

EXPOSURE

and EXPERIENCES

Exposure and experiences are what bring people further in their life. I speak on the road quite often ( although currently I am gaining frequent flyer ZOOM miles) and typically I try to maximize my trips and time , whenever possible I try to add value to the community I visit either by speaking to students at a school or university, or specific groups like to Girls Scout troupes. I started doing this because I believe if you can see it you can be it and not all of us have had the same exposure. So many of the students I meet and so far all of the Girl Scouts I have spoken to about becoming their own CEO, when I ask how many have met a female CEO, no hands go up. When I was growing up all

the young girls wanted to be secretaries, teachers , nurses or ,flight attendants, these are all honorable professions, but the point is, it was all we were exposed to. If all of us in leadership chose, and it’s always a choice, to leave every place a little better, for young minds to see they have several choices when it comes to their future, we would all go further and be more fulfilled in our lives.

Tami Bonnell CEO

EXIT Realty Corp. International

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Volume 10 / Issue I

Real Estate Change

TABLE

of

CONTENTS

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Access to Capital

6 11 14 17 20 26 29 32 34

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Knowing the Rules of the Game®: Demystifying Credit by Rebecca Steele

Leadership

NDILC's Top Ten Women Leadership Principles

Exposure and Experiences by Tami Bonnell 9 Tips to Keep Achieving by Susan Harrison

Real Estate

Developing Winning AI Strategies in Real Estate by Hazel Mann Our Blue Planet by Natasha Benjamin Women Finding Freedom Through the Sharing Economy of Airbnb by Angie Weeks

Profile

Angella Goran – Going for the World Record! Woman's Tax Infographic SheShowcase

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36 38 40 42 51 56 57

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Reckoning with Past… Laying Bricks for the Future by Lydia Pope Racial Injustice Reflection by Jean Sunwoo & Amanda Trejo

Business Ownership 59

Maintaining Family Communication, Collaboration, and Connection by Marty Dutch

NDILC in the News

sheCenter(fold) sheCENTER(FOLD) Teresa Bryce Bazemore

Technology

The Possibilities of PropTech: A decades long journey through the lens of data by Hazel Mann

Government

For the First Time LGBTQ Americans will be Protected under the Fair Housing ACT (FHA) The Struggle for Fair Housing in the U.S. by Antoine M. Thompson

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Media

Know the Rules of the Game® Podcast Clubhouse: Women, Impact, Change

Aging Population Who Cares for Caregivers? by Dr. Chitra Dorai

Quality of Life 67 Could You Live in the Streets for Ten Years Waiting to Find a Home? by Brateil Aghasi


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RocketPro.com/RealEstate Your client’s participation in the Verified Approval program is based on an underwriter’s comprehensive analysis of their credit, income, employment status, debt, property, insurance, appraisal and a satisfactory title report/search. If new information materially changes the underwriting decision resulting in a denial of the credit request, if the loan fails to close for a reason outside of Quicken Loans’control, or if the client no longer wants to proceed with the loan, their participation in the program will be discontinued. If the client’s eligibility in the program does not change and their mortgage loan does not close, they will receive $1,000. This offer does not apply to new purchase loans submitted to Quicken Loans through a mortgage broker. Quicken Loans reserves the right to cancel this offer at any time. Acceptance of this offer constitutes the acceptance of these terms and conditions, which are subject to change at the sole discretion of Quicken Loans. This is not a commitment to lend. Additional conditions or exclusions may apply. Quicken Loans, LLC; NMLS #3030; www.NMLSConsumerAccess.org. Equal Housing Lender. Licensed in 50 states. AL License No. MC 20979, Control No. 100152352. AR, TX: 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226-1906, (888) 474-0404; AZ: 1 N. Central Ave., Ste. 2000, Phoenix, AZ 85004, Mortgage Banker License #BK-0902939; CA: Licensed by Dept. of Business Oversight, under the CA Residential Mortgage Lending Act and Finance Lenders Law; CO: Regulated by the Division of Real Estate; GA: Residential Mortgage Licensee #11704; IL: Residential Mortgage Licensee #4127 – Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation; KS: Licensed Mortgage Company MC.0025309; MA: Mortgage Lender License #ML 3030; ME: Supervised Lender License; MN: Not an offer for a rate lock agreement; MS: Licensed by the MS Dept. of Banking and Consumer Finance; NH: Licensed by the NH Banking Dept., #6743MB; NV: License #626; NJ: New Jersey – Quicken Loans, LLC, 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226, (888) 474-0404, Licensed by the N.J. Department of Banking and Insurance.; NY: Licensed Mortgage Banker – NYS Banking Dept.; OH: MB 850076; OR: License #ML-1387; PA: Licensed by the Dept. of Banking – License #21430; RI: Licensed Lender; WA: Consumer Loan Company License CL-3030. Conditions may apply. NAWRB MAGAZINE | 13 ©2000 – 2021 Quicken Loans, LLC. All rights reserved. Lending services provided by Quicken Loans, LLC, a subsidiary of Rocket Companies, Inc. (NYSE: RKT) "Quicken Loans" is a registered service mark of Intuit Inc., used under license. Quicken Loans, 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226-1906

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9 TIPS

to

Keep Achieving

I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly in my more than 33 years in real estate. Thankfully, there has been far more good than bad, and along the way I’ve noticed some common threads in the people who continue to grow and achieve regardless of the market, politics or brokerage affiliation.

1. Read

The most successful people I know read almost daily. Selfhelp, business development, advancements in science and technology, inspirational biographies and memoirs are all good choices.

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2.Establish and stick to a morning routine Most high achievers would tell you their morning routine is sacrosanct. I follow Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning™ routine of rising early to spend a period of time on silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing (ie. journaling). On days when I’m pressed for time, this routine can take as little as six minutes, but most days I take an hour to establish a positive mindset and control of my day ahead.

3. Don't prioritize your schedule, schedule your priorities

This is a tough one for many high achievers to learn, especially in an industry like ours when so much of what happens is beyond our control. Author, Stephen Covey, recommends “starting with the end in mind”, writing a personal mission statement and working backwards from there to determine what’s truly important in your life. Want a strong relationship with your family? The opportunity to make an impact on your community? Make time for those priorities weekly before anything else hits your schedule.

At the brokerage I could do my job with my eyes closed and indeed once I ran payroll for 120 agents and 14 staff without a computer monitor. If you know your job that well, you know it too well. It was time for a change, yet the fear of casting off from the shore of familiarity for uncharted waters gave me pause. Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, directs readers to “choose the bigger life” when faced with a challenging decision. With all other factors being equal, I didn’t want fear to be the reason I said no. So, I marshalled the butterflies in my stomach, chose the bigger life and said yes.

5. Try, fail, adjust

Here’s the thing. It’s not a question of if you’re going to fail, it’s when. Everyone who has achieved any measure of success has failed at something, and it’s because of those failures that lessons are learned, and opportunities arise. In her fascinating 10-part series on Audible entitled, The Revisionaries, venture capitalist, Michele Romanow, interviews successful entrepreneurs about how they moved beyond their failures to achieve success.

6. Surround yourself with people ahead of you on their journey

It is said that the wise person learns through counsel and the fool learns through experience. If you’re not working in a culture where people more successful than you readily share what works and doesn’t, it’s time to make a change. Regardless of whether you’re new to the business or a seasoned professional, find yourself a mentor or group of mentors and pay attention to everything they say. There is always more to learn.

4. Act before you have all the information

I don’t believe we ever have “all” the information we need to make a decision, and sometimes fear of the unknown or making the wrong choice can hold us back. There comes a time after we’ve done our research, asked our trusted advisors and made our analysis that we must act. More than 20 years ago, I had the opportunity to join the team at EXIT Realty Corp. International. My husband and I carefully weighed the pros and cons of my making the switch from one of the top brokerages in the country where I had served as administrator for 11 years. While there were more pros than cons, one factor dominated my thoughts: fear.

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7. Turn off the news

While it’s important to be informed on current events and issues of concern to you, the media (traditional or social) isn’t necessarily the best place to get that information. Headlines are designed to be inflammatory “click bait” to compel you to read further. Human beings are drawn to tragedy, shock and awe, and as a result, good news and peaceful accord don’t generally make headlines. Turn off the news and find other reliable sources.

8. Delegate

Most people do only a couple of things well but spend their time on myriad other tasks that pull them off course. As a real estate professional, the best use of your time is likely spent with clients, so why are you doing administrative, marketing or bookkeeping tasks that you can delegate to someone else? At the start of her career, Marcella Poitras, the 2020 Top Lister for EXIT in North America, was doing it all, but her strength lay with people, not details. Three years into her career, she met a client who worked as a paralegal, and impulsively Marcella asked the client to work for her. When Marcella told her husband, he replied, “It’s all fine and dandy, but how are you going to pay her?” Marcella said, “I don’t know, but I don’t want to be without her.” With her new assistant taking care of the details, Marcella’s production almost doubled within a year.

9. While you're striving for more, be grateful for what you have

I believe that when you’re sincerely grateful for everything in your life, you signal to the Universe that you have a heart for abundance and prosperity and that you’re open to receiving more. You may desperately want a shiny new car but be thankful today that the ten-year-old clunker in the driveway starts every morning. There’s nothing wrong with having a fire in your belly to keep achieving, but at the same time acknowledge and be grateful for the blessings in your life now and how far you’ve already come.

Susan Harrison

Senior Vice President Exit Realty Corp. International

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Real Estate

Developing Winning AI strategies in Real Estate With the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, regardless if you're athletically inclined or not, one can appreciate the sheer level of talent demonstrated across a variety of sports. From the rush and lull of baseball, the sudden splashes and flashes of surfing, or the intensely breathtaking breeze of archery, the bottom line is that the pro's make it look easy. However, this finesse comes at a cost: strict nutrition regimens, early morning strength and endurance training, and relentless dedication to perfection of their crafts day in and day out. These athletes get out what they put into their craft. All of the skill, sacrifice, and dedication becomes blatantly apparent on game day. I am constantly completely baffled when executives demand so much out of technology, and even more of the much-hyped trend of artificial intelligence, and then become suddenly disillusioned that it "doesn't work," without putting in the requisite groundwork in order to support its success. This isn't necessarily without cause: real estate, especially on the landlord side, has been slower to adopt technology because historically, it hasn’t needed to. It has made trillions of dollars for decades, even centuries, without it. However, technology has become exponential-

ly cheaper and quicker to develop than ever before, which means that the companies who are further along on their data journey, especially with AI are now building a distinct source of competitive advantage. The following discussion is meant to empower executives with the strategies to get started in realizing the benefits of AI.

Either you make big changes starting today, or you keep on doing what you’re doing and run the risk of losing out. Training for greatness

As in sports, the top performers with data (Moneyball, anyone?) reap the rewards of their efforts. Prior to COVID, Bain had discovered that companies using analytic insights to impact operations and improve goods and service were not only twice as likely to be in the top 25% of financial performance, there were also three times likely to execute decisions as planned and five times more likely to make decisions faster than their peers. A 2020Q3 study by Deloitte discovered that the frontrunners that completed more AI NAWRB MAGAZINE |

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investments and saw them through to full implementation were more likely to achieve significantly higher ROI's as compared to the "Starters" who lacked experience and maturity, consequently yielding lower ROI and payback periods. With the pandemic accelerating trends that were already in motion, the choice is now clear for the real estate industry: either you make big changes starting today, or you keep on doing what you’re doing and run the risk of losing out on revenue from lower demand, eating costs others are minimizing, and having your competitors beat you in attracting

If the data you're consuming every day is dirty, difficult to process, or delayed, you may be due for a data cleanup. fectively evaluate newer technology that can benefit your firm. The truth is, many larger and established firms aren’t positioned in a way that lets them take advantage of new technology. People often underestimate the power of clean financial data since real estate financial data, while not necessarily large in volume, tends to be very complex. Are you still stuck mostly in Excel, consuming an inordinate amount of trees in order to function on a daily basis, or have to ask multiple people or look up multiple systems in order to find questions to seemingly simple answers? If the data you're consuming every day is dirty, difficult to process, or delayed, you may be due for a data cleanup. There are many experienced advisories who've worked specifically in your firm's area pf real estate that can assist with the migration and molding your data into a more usable format.

Step 2: Understand your team

investors. But how does a real estate firm even start on a journey to leverage AI to its full extent? For any company, regardless of age or assets under management, there are three key steps in being able to realize the benefits of AI.

Step 1: Clean up your diet

Athletes start from a place of brutal honesty in assessing their current nutrition and exercise habits in order put into place improvements that will impact their performance. In real estate, we need to walk before we can run. To fully make use of AI or another other emerging technology, you have to go through a major data cleanup of any legacy database or transactional systems you have in place in order to move fast in being able to ef-

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Famous coach John Wooden summed it up nicely when he observed "I believe in the basics: attention to, and perfection of, tiny details that might be commonly overlooked. They may seem trivial, perhaps even laughable to those who don’t understand, but they aren’t. They are fundamental to your progress…They are the difference between champions and near champions." Oftentimes, real estate executives catch "shiny ball" syndrome and may go after the newest or most talked about trend without putting the right structures in place to support its success. This is where the people, process, technology (PPT) framework comes into play. These are the "basics" whose order of development must be taken seriously: People. Real estate leaders need to un-


derstand what value their people (in each role and department) want to contribute to the firm. Process. Then, they need to buckle down and learn what current processes are in place and either improve or replace them so they don't get in the way of the value their people want to bring. I cannot stress enough that leaders must reassess and update their understanding of traditional real estate roles. It's not just enough to know what each person does and how they do it, one must be able to justify why certain things are being done and question if they're even necessary any more. Technology. Technology is ultimately the last layer, as a component to expedite the processes so value contributed by your people can be realized more quickly and effectively. Put technology first before the other basics, and you set up your firm for technical failure.

Step 3: Prioritize your goals

With the first two steps in place, there are lastly the main areas of technology to consider: Replacement. In this area, you have already budgeted and made a case for why a technology is going to be purchased. Looking at alternatives, see how the options incorporate artificial intelligence or how they can set you up to start gathering and grouping the data you'll need to be able to build robust AI. ROI. You may not have initially intended or budgeted for a certain technology, but be open to considering something if it has a demonstrable ROI. Be ruthless in under-

standing the details of case studies and white papers, ask for references and reference numbers, and conduct short pilots where ROI can be shown in a limited amount of time. Don't just choose something because of marketing buzz words; sometimes it's better to go with a product that doesn't have AI in it if it can show more time or cost savings than ones that do.

Don't just choose something because of marketing buzz words. Tenant experience. This last category embodies technologies that were neither anticipated or show hard numbers, but maintain your competitiveness and contribute to the tenant experience. With consumerism trending strong in tenant choices and having this trend be emboldened by COVID, it has become even more imperative that real estate leaders purposefully design a thoughtful and seamless tenant experience to protect their operational revenue, in addition to the capital they're able to raise. Peter Hinssen, a successful serial entrepreneur and thought leader in the area of disruptive technology, is the author of the book, The Day after Tomorrow: How to survive in times of radical innovation? He concisely captures the ethos of the technological landscape in describing four main categories of technology that companies inevitably spend their time on: yesterday tech (the tech to-do list that never gets done), today tech (the fires you are constantly trying to put out with your current tech stack), tomorrow tech (the stuff you want to start doing), and day after tomorrow tech (the fancy things everyone else seems to be talking about but few are actually doing). He stresses that the final category functions essentially like insurance--insurance against your own disruption. Digital transformation in real estate truly is a challenge--the industry is ten to fifteen years behind the technology the average financial services firm uses. However, with the tools and processes above, it is a challenge real estate firms can be prepared to confront.

Hazel Mann Principal Advisor Zetta Advisory

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Our

Blue

Planet 20

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FOR TWO MILLENNIA, HUMANKIND BELIEVED THAT EARTH WAS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE. THIS MISTAKEN BELIEF WOULD HAVE PERSISTED INDEFINITELY WITHOUT SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY. INDEED, THROUGH HIS CURIOSITY AND QUESTIONING, COPERNICUS BROUGHT ENLIGHTENMENT ABOUT SOMETHING WITH GLOBAL IMPORTANCE, AND LAUNCHED THE WORLD INTO THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION. THE BOTTOM LINE: WITH KNOWLEDGE COMES POWER. POWER TO MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS.

“Outer space" receives a lot of attention as our “last frontier,” however the ocean is far less explored and understood. And it is right here in our own backyard! The ocean is substantially responsible for the oxygen we breathe, the food we eat, and our weather patterns. It serves as the lungs and thermostat of our blue planet, removing one-third of the carbon in our atmosphere and absorbing about 90% of its excess heat – in other words, without a healthy ocean, our air and climate would be inhospitable. Containing 75% of all life, it is estimated that only 11% of marine species have been identified. An ecosystem as large and biodiverse as the ocean is truly the lifeline of our blue planet; conversely, if the oceans die, we die. Yet 95% of the ocean is still unexplored. And it is currently facing a barrage of threats.

"The ocean is substantially responsible for the oxygen we breathe, the food we eat, and our weather patterns." NAWRB MAGAZINE |

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Risky Business One of the key risks to our ocean’s health is also one that humanity heavily relies on: energy. As our society tackles a changing climate, and moving away from fossil fuels, there is an increased demand for electric powered vehicles. Currently, we rely on landbased mining to fuel our green energy technologies, including the batteries for the expanding electric fleet. However, there are major impacts these mining operations have, from the environmental pollution of mining byproducts, to child labor practices. The current rate of demand for electric cars is greatly outweighing the terrestrial supply of these metals, which has led to a controversial new practice: deep-sea mining. While ocean mining has not officially started, 16 international companies have contracts to explore the seabed for minerals and commercial mining is expected to start by 2025. Some believe that we must stop this mining while others feel that it is inevitable. There are those who would argue that mining the deep-sea is more environmentally friendly than land-based mining. However, many have raised major issues, from habitat destruction, loss of unidentified microbes and other species, noise and vibration pollution, and the unknowns associated with sediment plumes in the water column. These risks can be mitigated with accurate information and on-going monitoring. For instance, with baseline data and predictive modeling, we may identify locations in the ocean that meet mining goals with minimal environmental impact. With regular and ongoing monitoring, we can spot vulnerabilities before they become crises. But how? The ocean floor is widely

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Often called “Blue Tech”, this new technology is transforming our ability to solve for a variety of ocean issues. unstudied and undocumented. As nations move forward quickly to exploit our ocean’s resources, there is an urgency to develop reliable technological solutions to preempt these risks. Like aerospace technology, deep ocean exploration faces unique engineering challenges, such as addressing water pressure, an unsteady and ever-moving environment, and darkness. Fortunately, drawn by scientific curiosity, marine technology is a rapidly evolving force in filling this knowledge gap. Often called “Blue Tech”, this new technology is transforming our ability to solve for a variety of ocean issues, including plastic pollution, over-fishing, monitoring our vast ocean. Marine Applied Research & Explora-

On the Horizon The team at MARE cannot think of a better way to enter the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, but with our recently donated 38-foot catamaran, the TomCat, we can now monitor additional nearby shallow depths, especially when paired with our newest ROV, the Mantis, reaching depths of 650 feet. We look forward to continuing our work to document depths where humans cannot easily go, and use this data to further ocean protection .

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ration (MARE) is one example of this innovation, bringing the power to make informed decisions: documenting the seafloor, creating a database of information about targeted regions and returning periodically to illustrate how the ocean is changing. MARE is able to provide data regarding the distribution and abundance of species, locations of high ecosystem productivity, and the impact of human activities. This information is used by scientists, resource managers, and environmental organizations to inform conservation efforts. Blue Tech in action! So what does that mean for mining, and other threats to ocean health?

Make Good Choices The United Nations recently declared a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. MARE joins with the UN and thousands of other academic, research, government, and community based organizations seek-

Blue technology is paving the way for a healthier, more resilient ocean. ing to address various ocean health risks. With the notion that when you know better, you do better, Blue Tech features heavily in potential solutions. For instance, with the right technological tools, it can contribute to industry oversight. With our ocean floor in the sights of the energy industry, we now have the ability to study and project impacts of deep-sea mining, as well as provide on-going monitoring of the affected areas. MARE was founded to increase the scientific understanding of deep water marine ecosystems by visually collecting data about our deep sea with

specialized Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). These marine robots are equipped with cameras and sensors to capture data like temperature, depth, and oxygen levels, and has sample collection capabilities with a robotic arm. Pilot-operated, the ROV can dive to depths of 1,000 meters for hours at a time and maneuver around rugged terrain, capturing in vivid detail marine life in situ. Blue technology is paving the way for a healthier, more resilient ocean. Since 2003, MARE has spent thousands of hours documenting and monitoring important deep water sites off the West Coast, putting actionable information into the hands of those responsible for our ocean’s health, and highlighting critical information about the deep sea for more people. This work is more critical than ever as the ocean faces increasing threats. A loss of our critical deep sea habitats will have a cascading effect on many marine organisms that depend on them, including commercially important fish species. We must explore, discover, and protect our ocean before it changes forever.

by Natasha Benjamin Policy and Outreach Director MARE/MareGroup.org NAWRB MAGAZINE |

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Women finding freedom

THROUGH THE SHARING ECONOMY OF AIRBNB

Let’s be honest, a lot of females are juggling household schedules, making beds daily, and working full-time jobs in customer service or hospitality-type industries. A lot of these same females are also searching for a way to spend more time with loved ones, and to find a better work-life balance. This brings the question: How can we live richer, fuller lives while making a difference in the world? Keep close connections with our families & still sprinkle what we were meant to do into the ethosphere? For those who have a passion to roam and to create, enter the opportunity of vacation rental management, Airbnb experiences, and niche property rental platforms. If you have a unique property or space, big or small, this is an opportunity for you. People love to rent not only stick & brick type properties, but also RV’s, boats, cars, treehouses, yurts, water towers, and land. We now live in a world where you can tow a trailer, link up to solar, put out a cell booster, charge devices, and work/connect from almost anywhere. As the clouds from Covid continue to

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lift, people are ready to explore this new world. Are you ready to connect with them? I recently had the opportunity to interview some of these women who have opened their spaces in the home-sharing economy. Each has a unique story to tell, weaved in with their life passions and experiences. Take for example entrepreneur Heather Carter, running Eureka Springs Coffee House with 2 AirBnB units above. Guests enjoy the main strip of historical Eureka, Arkansas; and also have discount offerings at the coffee shop below. Travelers include vacationers and business professionals alike. In a recent video interview with Heather, she said “We used to live above the coffee house ourselves, but we soon discovered we had a unique opportunity for rentals here”. Indeed she did! Heather advised she prefers the niche with commercially zoned properties, so she can avoid any roadblocks with residential vacation rental limitations. If you aren’t sure about STR rules in your community or city, be sure to research accordingly to avoid pitfalls.


Another go-getter making the most of her skills is April Snow-Kass, a Realtor in LA specializing in harmonious homes for musicians. April recently branched out to nearby Joshua Tree as a vacation rental host. Now, not only can April sell property in a new area, she can speak to personal experience on the equity gains and the rental income her ‘Retro Ranch‘ in the JT desert is recently experiencing. Let’s not forget supermom and High School Counselor Carolynn Cribley. Her and financé Matthew Herman in Grandville, Michigan, are putting an extra room in their home, coined ‘The Barnhouse,’ to STR use. They stated in a recent interview that it’s brought such great results, they not only bought another property, but looped parents in on the opportunity. They inspired and guided Matthew’s parents to a short-term rental purchase as well. Not only has Carolynn & Matthew created additional monthly cash flow (partly used to build a fun new pool!), they’ve hopped the family on the path to generational wealth. According to NAWRB’s website and 2020 NAWRB WHER: “…research found women seek homeownership for these primary reasons:

As a “Sanctuary”

A sanctuary is defined as a place of refuge, an oasis, or a retreat. Women value creating a unique space from which to retreat from the outside world—one in which they control the climate, the decor, the layout. One’s home is a psychology of space…” https://www.nawrb.com/one-tough-mother-how-single-mothers-are-defining-the-homebuying-process/#more-18821 Vacation rentals are a method to live this ‘sanctuary’ lifestyle and create income. Win-win. Another example is Corporate Executive ‘girlboss’ Vanessa Montanez with U.S. Bank, who explained in January to Homeownership Day attendees easy steps to enter into investing. Vanessa discovered the benefits of renting her Temecula wine country home on Airbnb recently, and as a lender with U.S. Bank, was kind enough to share strategies with other would-be investors at Homeownership Day. Admittedly, all of these hosts know STR life is not as ‘passive’

as long-term rentals; but it can be more profitable, plus it allows the ability to vacation in your own property, afford *more* units, & / or meet new friends. Yes, you may still be making beds, running multiple schedules, and rocking your 9-5. But it’s a way to squeeze the most out of almost any property. Best of all, homeownership is open to many, regardless of education level or background. With low-interest rate loans and programs like FHA allowing as little as 3.5% down, many females are opting for a property purchase. Additionally, SBA loans for Women-Owned Businesses have opened even more doors to run a viable business from home. There are many options to sell creations of any kind from home, be it via online avenues or to guests traveling through your space. Speaking of online avenues, the fast-track growth of property rental apps makes the marketing side become much easier. You don’t have to do your own Search Engine Optimization anymore – these apps are paying to get the word out on your behalf. Platforms to easily start your sharing economy hosting: Airbnb, VRBO, Hipcamps, Harvest Hosts, Furnished Finder, Outdoorsy, Turo, and more. For additional information or a guide into the vacation rental lifestyle, reach out to NAWRB Delegate Spokeswoman Angie Weeks, or watch her video interviews at http://www.YouTube. com/HomebuyingRegistry/

by Angie Weeks Broker-Associate Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties NAWRB Certified Delegate Spokeswoman NAWRB MAGAZINE |

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Profile

ANGELLA GORAN

Goes for the World Record! There’s nothing like an early morning where you slip out of bed to feel the cold floor emit a piercing shiver through your body but

you push yourself to get up and slip on your cycling bibs, sports bra, favorite jersey and at last a pair of sleek bike socks to take away the floors rude awakening. 20 minutes later you find yourself in blissful solitude, as the only sounds are your bike's chain that creates a melody with every pedal stroke, your heart beat to every breath you take and the morning birds that are singing their first song of the day. Ahead the day starts to unfold and the to do list gets ingrained in ones mind of what priorities need to be executed first thing, but not until the ride is over.

Now enters the sound of the first HORN – the day has begun. At 42 years of age, Angella Goran the Female Founder of a newly launched Neobank TAPanGO Technologies Inc. never thought that at the same time as launching an innovative Fintech / InsureTech company she’d also be competing as a World Class Athlete in the sport of cycling. When 36 years old this budding tech entrepreneur took her background as a competitive Rower, Triathlete and Cyclist to heart and wanted to break barriers for elevating more girls and women in sport and thought there’d be no better way to spread this message then the same life cycle an Olympian has; 4 years, to train to challenge what in the sport of cycling is known as NAWRB MAGAZINE |

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the toughest event, The UCI 1 Hour Elite Women’s Indoor Cycling World Record. As a woman who’s been involved in sport since she was a little girl she has a story like so many women do of having to overcome barriers to entry, funding, support and more. It’s no wonder if your wanting to reach Angella the best way to do so is to ask her to go for a ride, although she does admit she dedicates more hours to her tech company than being on the bike, that is cause after her piercing workouts she’s quite happy to recover her legs! One of the things we’ve learned is that she’s driven by purpose and geared (no pun intended) towards making a lasting impact no matter whether it is in business and/or in sport. It goes to show why TAPanGO’s first flagship vertical bank program is ATHLETICA Rewards ™ / ATHLETICA Protect™. If we were to take you back to 2000-2004 when she was training at the National level to represent Canada as a hopeful 2004 Olympian there were days where her roommates and her would pool their funding to be able to afford the bulk size peanut butter barrels and large loafs of bread as sport funding never came in on time and being carded really didn’t give much to cover rent let alone quality nutrition to be an amateur athlete. This one example is just that, one of many she and thousands of others in amateur sport have gone through. As years passed by what Angella started to recognize was that there needed to be some sort of platform that enabled a better sense of community, connecting those that look up to our athletes and those that live and lead an active lifestyle. If funding was hard to get to an athlete on time why not create a means to be able to make this type of transaction more accessible, affordable and transparent for athletes, government bodies, brands and the Sports Associations AND make the same available to a cliental that lives an athletic lifestyle. Lights, camera, action – hold up, Hollywood is now involved?! Well not quite, but networks such as Amazon Prime have guaranteed an independent Docudrama Series with Award Winning Producer, Steve Haining the Founder of CreateOF. The proposal for the Series falls nothing short of shooting for the stars with its title being “Perfect or Podium, Breaking Records and Barriers for Girls and Women in Sport”. The breath taking synopsis takes a reader to imagine the Series that will be made of real life stories from some of the worlds most celebrate Athletes, Coaches, Sport Organization Leaders and Governing Bodies. The one secret we can leak is the start of the Series shows a young girl about to embark on her first journey in sport and the last is that of a woman about to step foot on the worlds fastest indoor cycling track about to set a World Record. The goal of this independent film once fully funded will be to allocate a set percentage of the viewer revenues granted by the network

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“Another 1.5 years might have been added but thank heavens stretching has never felt better in my entire life and the investment in a good RMT [Registered Massage Therapist]. This opportunity is in site and I will not give up on it as those involved have not given up on me”.

to create the first of it’s kind, international girls and women sports bursary to elevate more girls to their podium. What a ride 2020 and 2021 has been. The pandemic has put forth many challenges for those in business and in professional sports. Some of the challenges have lead to greatness and for the first time in history we’ve not only seen conversations around equal pay for Professional Female Athletes but dispersing and implementation. Additionally there’s been more live sports media coverage for Women’s Sports than ever before. In fact the 2021 UCI Cycling Season that’s currently underway will be the first season ever to broadcast both the Men’s and Women’s Events. So when asked if the World Record [WR] event will take place or if age matters when taking on the UCI 1 Hour Women’s Elite Indoor Cycling World Record the only answer we’ve been granted is “Another 1.5 years might have been added but thank heavens stretching has never felt better in my entire life and the investment in a good RMT [Registered Massage Therapist]. This opportunity is in site and I will not give up on it as those involved have not given up on me”.

Where many challenges have been presented during COVID-19 Angella admits that her natural means to cope is to find the best in every situation and with being granted more time it’s allowed her and her team to get everything more dialed in to truly go after the World Record [WR] including making a Docudrama Series to create more content to raise awareness for the purpose driving her, supporting others particularly girls and women. Teamwork she highlights is critical even with the event being solo, like being a founder no successful company grows without others that also believe. Keep your eyes open for this young woman, as her eyes are not only set on being a World Record Holder but also one of only a handful of Female Founders in the global Neobank space. She has let us know candidly that her next vertical bank program after ATHLETICA Rewards™ is of course focused on Women in Business | Female Founders & Start ups which is already in beta. [Sound of Angella’s Voice Mail]: If you’re receiving this message I am either on my bike, hitting the gym, or conquering another great biz meeting. Sorry to have missed your call please send me a text message or better yet follow me on social and let’s get outdoors and ride.

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SheShowcase Rosey Koberlein

Michelle Corridon CEO Long Companies for nearly The of U.S. Department of Agriculfour decades transitioned ture (USDA) has promotedto chairperson where she will focus on Michelle Corridon to Director of strategic planning for the compaOriginations and Processing, ny’s and years growth orafterdirection serving four asboth USDA Deputy Director of Rural Devel- . ganically and through acquisitions opment. Corridon previously worked as Senior Policy Analyst for the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Loan Specialist at the USDA before obtaining her current position.

Martha Mosier

Shannon Odell Shannon Odell was named Chief Nursing Officer at Nicklaus Martha Mosier has been promoted Children’s Hospital in Miami, toFlorida. president of Berkshire HathaOdell will be responsible way HomeServices California for the leadership and manageProperties. has 25 years of ment of theMartha nursing department, real experience having andestate for thelaw clinical practice of served as General Counsel and nursing throughout the hospital most recently running the escrow and its network of outpatient operations for California Propercenters. Odell brings more than ties Southern California. 20 for years of leadership and management experience.

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Renee Gonzales

Teresa PalaciosSmith Renee takes over as CEO NDILCGonzales Member Teresa Palacios of Longhas Companies andChief moves up Smith been named from executive of Diversity, Equityvice and president Inclusion Officer at HomeServices. Teresa previously Core Services, president of Long served as Vice President of Diversity Title Agency and managing direc& Inclusion for the franchise’s tor of Long Mortgage Co.—roles networks since to 2017. she’ll continue holdHer as new part role of will CEO include elevating, expanding and her position. aligning the national scope and impact of HomeServices's collective diversity and inclusion initiatives across its company and subsidiaries.

Joanna Gunn

Lori Muller

Joanna Gunn has been appointed Chief Brand Officer by the Lori Muller appointed U.S. Rosewood Hotel Group. In Vice this President for EXIT Realty. Previous role, Gunn will oversee marketing Broker/Owner of EXIT Realty direction for ultra-luxury Rose-and past Women's Council woodPresident Hotels & of Resorts®, deluxe of Realtors® for Wisconsin. New World Hotels & Resorts and business lifestyle KHOS hotels. Gunn previously served as Chief Brand Officer for Lane Crawford, a luxury multi-brand retailer, and has 23 years of luxury experience.

Mary Lee Blaylock Carmen Vann

Mary Lee Blaylock, president Carmen Vann, LEED AP BD+C, a and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway 20-year industry veteran, has HomeServices CaliforniaProject Properbeen named Regional ties, one of the largest companies Executive for BNBuilders. Her in previous the Franchise network, has been leadership experience promoted Vice President includes to theSenior San Diego Central Sempra of Energy HeadofLibrary, HomeServices America. quarters, Ten Fifty B, and Stella & Bluewater. Vann brings her expertise in complex, multi-family, affordable housing, K-12, and urban high-rise projects.

Shaivi Vasanadu Melissa Shea Shaivi Vasanadu has been named Partner at Aldrich CPA + Advisors Announcing as15 LLP. In thisMelissa role, sheShea brings Regional Owner of EXIT Realty years of experience in public CT & RI. Dedicated to the mission accounting for closely held of businesses. empoweringVasanadu’s and educating focus is families andinindividuals to and gain on clients construction financial independence through related industries, and she real estate. in providing assurance specializes services, including audits, reviews and compilations, and accounting and business consulting.


Women On the Move

Christy Budnick

Patrice GillespieSmith CEO ofGillespie HSF Affiliates Patrice Smith and was CEO of Berkshire Hathaway appointed as Chief Operating HomeServices of of America, a Officer for Friends the UnderBerkshire affiliate, just line. In this Hathaway role, she will lead with announced Christy Budnick, more than 20that years of experience president CEO of Berkshire as an urbanand planner. Smith Hathawayworked HomeServices Florida previously as Senior Network of Realty, is now chief execManager Planning, Transportation and Resilience the Miami utive officer of HSFfor Affiliates LLC, Downtown Development Authority, which operates and manages the and developed the Safer People, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Safer Streets Action Plan. and Real Living Real Estate brokerage franchise networks. Budnick is also now CEO of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network.

Lynn Owen Lynn Owen has joined Avenue5 Residential, a Seattle-based multifamily property management services firm as EVP of Client Strategy. Owen brings more than three decades of multifamily and commercial property management, asset management, and construction management expertise. Previously, she held leadership roles at Compass Acquisition Partners and TruAmerica Multifamily.

Kathryn Redican

Karen Barroeta

Kathryn Redican to Telemundo Global Promoted Studios has Chief Operating Officer at BHHS named Karen Barroeta Executive Kathryn Redican, recently promotVice President of Production and ed to Chief Operating Development, effective Officer July 6. for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Barroeta previously served as Senior President Marketing (BHHS)Vice New England,ofNew York and at Telemundo. andCreative Westchester Properties Before DP. that, she headed all revenue efforts at Telemundo Internacional pay TV channel in Latin America.

Tiffany Curry Tiffany Curry advanced from a Top Producing agent on the BHHS National REThink Council specializing in Global and Luxury Real Estate to becoming the first 100% African American owner of a Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in the world and will operate as BHHS Tiffany Curry & Co., REALTORS®. Curry was inducted into The National Civil Rights Halls of Fame in 2018.

Leora Ruzin

Ursula Brandon CMB, has been named the UrsulaAMP, Brandon has been SVP of Lending ColoradoofFederpromoted to ViceatPresident alPersonal Credit Union, inJAG Grand Junction, Lines at Insurance Colorado. In this role,commercial she will be Group, a full-service responsible for leading the charge insurance agency. Brandon, who in all previously lending initiatives, with a was an Account Managerfocus at JAG’s Coral Gables pointed on developing prooffice. aimed Before at joining the the agency grams helping local 12 years ago, Brandon held community. She was also recently administrative positions at State named the Managing Editor of Farm Vision and Hub 20/20 forInternational. Success Coaching's two magazines- "The Vision" and "Women with Vision".

Sonja Larimore Sonja Larimore has been appointed as Chief Compliance Officer of Reilly Financial Advisors. She is responsible for overseeing and ensuring compliance with SEC regulations, as well as addressing regulatory risks, reviewing and updating the firm’s policies and procedures, and managing day-to-day compliance activities and controls.


Reckoning with the Past...Laying Brick for the Future By: Lydia Pope National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) The time is long overdue for reckoning with the past. Black Americans still wait for the nation’s promises to be fulfilled. I speak not only from experience, but also as president-elect of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB). Systemic mortgage disparities, blatant sales deterrents, the pervasiveness of redlining, and decades-old discriminatory federal policies have all conspired to keep Black homeownership below the 50% mark. True reckoning—in which this country pays its debt to Black Americans—has yet to occur.

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To understand the intractability of the racial wealth gap, let’s consider a bit of NAREB history. In 1947, 12 visionary Black real estate professionals from across the country joined together to form NAREB. The 11 men and one woman, Nannie Black, had experienced blatant marketplace racism. This compelled them to help Black WWII veterans use their VA loan benefits to buy a home. Many Black veterans had been denied this opportunity. There should have been a national outcry, but none arose. NAREB, in its fledgling state, took up the charge and prepared to ensure that Black Americans, especially those who valiantly fought for democracy and freedom on foreign battlefields, now had a growing legion of real estate professionals who stepped up to help them fight for Democracy in Housing on their native soil. Over the next seven decades, NAREB expanded its reach among Black real estate professionals and more widely into the Black community-at-large. We listened; we learned from legacy NAREB members; we absorbed the heart-wrenching stories told by Black consumers—each


Diversity Equity & Inclusion

one riddled with racial bias, dishonest practices, disrespect, lending disparities and abject disappointment they experienced on the road to homeownership. The promise of the American Dream for Black Americans had yet to be fulfilled even with the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. Black Americans continue to face such challenges in the homebuying process and closing the economic divide. Just look at the numbers: Today, the Black homeownership rate of 45.1% ranks just a few percentage points above the 1970 rate of 42% two years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act. Instead of being a victory, the legislation passed without enforcement power. With few exceptions, Black homeownership has risen insignificantly since the Act’s passage. The result? A very real loss in generational wealth for Black Americans. In comparison the current non-Hispanic White homeownership rate stands at 73.8%, representing a wealth gap of just under 29%.

lays bare the systemic barriers and biases to the growth of Black homeownership. The SHIBA report translates to actions in which NAREB focuses our advocacy efforts, engages our constituency, and offers our informed guidance to prospective Black American homebuyers with the anticipation that the first step toward wealth building through homeownership materializes. In my two-year term as NAREB’s president, I plan to grow our focus on Black women businessowners, real estate professionals and potential homeowners. According to U.S. Census data, Black women head 27% of all Black households which represents more than twice the 12% rate for “all women.”

Today, the Black homeownership rate of

From its inception to the present, NAREB leadership has listened, and over the years strategized, sought legal remedies to make the real estate profession more equitable, advocated and pushed for federal policies, while crafting approaches at all levels to break down the barriers to growing Black homeownership.

45.1%

ranks just a few percentage points above the 1970 rate of

We are entrepreneurs building businesses or solo practices. In fact, prior to the onset of the COVID pandemic, Black women were starting businesses at an astonishing rate. According to Forbes magazine, “Black women represent 42% of new women-owned businesses— three times their share of the female population—and 36% of all Blackowned employer businesses.”

42%

In the coming months, NAREB will unveil a women’s initiative to reach and to focus attention on spending power on investing in real estate, pursuing home ownership, and growing existing real estate practitioners’ careers in real estate. Women in Real Estate, or W.I.R.E. will focus on the development of effective tools and techniques for Black women consumers as well as for Black women real estate professionals. I believe NAREB women have an obligation to prepare the next generations for success by sharing and teaching and supporting other Black women on their journey to their economic goals.

two years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act.

Closing the racial wealth gap through homeownership remains at the core of NAREB’s mission. A 2020 Brookings Institute report notes that, “the median white household has a net worth of $171,000, 10 times the net worth of the median Black household, $17,100…The poorest 20% of American households have a net worth of less than $4,700; many of these households have a negative wealth due to debt. Of these households, 26% identify as Black. The richest of American households have a net worth of more than $500,000; 3% of these households identify as Black.” As NAREB’s incoming president—and only the third woman in that office in the association’s history—I have prepared a strategic action agenda based upon the findings in NAREB’s research-based State of Housing in Black America (SHIBA) report. Issued annually, each edition

Continue to watch as NAREB continues our historical commitment to “laying brick for the future” in ways that transform this season of reckoning into the kind of real growth and progress for Black Americans that will strengthen our nation and fortify a greater future for us all.

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In solidarity with the AAPI community, the following reflection was from a recent event at Providence St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, CA led by Jean Sunwoo and Amanda Trejo, both frontline healthcare workers. Together with our Racial Justice Alliance, we lit candles in honor of the Atlanta shooting victims, along with all victims of hate crimes and racism. We declared hope, light, and prayers in opposition to the darkness and division we collectively experience. In the wake of the shootings, I (Jean) wrote this to our Racial Justice Alliance a few weeks ago. The past few days, I have not slept or eaten properly. I feel sick to my stomach and tears come and go. Everything feels very raw and a pervading feeling of vulnerability sits within me. This feeling is not uncommon with many Asian women across the U.S. right now, and it will be for some time.

Racial Justice Reflection By: Jean Sunwoo, MSW and Amanda Trejo, MOT, OTR/L

The recent Georgia shootings rocked and shattered the worlds of the Asian community, as we grappled and reeled with grief, anger, and fear to step outside of our doors. Further, it was a re-traumatization of our own personal experiences that involved layers of hurt. The lack of recognition as a hate crime, targeting the vulnerable female elders, and deafening silence from those we hope would reach out was too much to bear. What I'm writing is in no way to diminish the experiences of our sisters and brothers of any community which involve harassment, trauma, or death. More importantly, this is not to discount your individual silent pain; your story counts. When one person suffers, we all suffer with you. Initially, I wanted to disengage emotionally, as we are taught to do in our culture. When a friend from another cultural back-

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ground reached out to me and asked how I'm doing, I was reminded of my value and how much our community matters. Her words of truth and compassion allowed me to properly grieve and process my personal and collective pain. To be seen, validated, and cared for was a pivotal moment I will never forget. For those directly affected by the recent events, you also may feel the hate and attacks are not a surprise. Anti-Asian racism existed for generations and significantly increased since the onset of the pandemic, from seemingly harmless words to hate crimes. Unfortunately, this happens even within the walls of our own hospital. The COVID-19 pandemic alone caused deep trauma and despair. To add insult to injury, the AAPI caregivers now experience another level of pain as we are targeted by xenophobia and hatred. Together, we declare this needs to change. When one part of our organization hurts, the entire organization grieves together. It requires the support of each of us, to carry and bear one another’s burdens. Today we lament this compounding grief so many of us are still recovering from. We take ownership of our words and recognize the harm it may perpetuate. We boldly call out racism and systems of oppression which impact our own caregivers, patients, and communities. We love our neighbors by listening, learning, and condemning injustice. We choose, instead, to use our words to express kindness, compassion, truth, and unity. May we continually seek peace, justice, reconciliation, and healing together. The day after the shootings, I (Amanda) wrote this poem in the rawness of my grief and lament, as an Asian American woman and healthcare worker on the frontlines.

“My eyes are swollen And my heart is heavy. I think of every Asian woman I love And I pray over and over Lord, protect them. Lord, protect us. Beautiful bodies that Birthed babies, Worked tirelessly Without complaint While others mocked, Objectified, Underestimated, S crutinized. This past year, We sacrificed and gave all of ourselves To take care of you and your loved ones. I looked at the brave women beside me Gowned up, masked up Scared and tired but yet We pressed on. And this is how you thank us?

You may see me as too small, Too weak, forgettable, But I am fierce. I take up space. My voice matters, Even if you’re not listening, Even if I have to repeat myself, Hear me now. We matter too. This is our home, too. I am beloved, too. Today we mourn, grieve, and pray. Tomorrow we rise up and face another day Fighting for the dignity Of all people. Of my people. Together. How we need each other. Lord, teach us how to love one another.”

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http://bit.ly/NDILC

Welcome Tasha to NAWRB's Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Counci!

Tasha Liniger

Tasha Liniger has rejoined Dialpad in her former role as CHRO after a year-long sabbatical. Prior to Dialpad, Liniger was a part of the founding team at BlueJeans as the Vice President of People where she helped expand the team globally and managed the company’s 100% year-over-year headcount growth.

Teresa Palacios Smith

Teresa Palacios Smith was recently named by RISMedia as a trailblazer in this year’s 2021 Newsmakers Awards. RISMedia calls their Trailblazers, “The Agents of Change.” From keeping pace with innovation to new technologies and more, celebrating agents of change for their contributions to moving the industry forward and improving agent-client relationships on every level. https://tinyurl.com/TrailblazersNDILC Teresa Palacios Smith contributed by writing the forward to authors Johnnie Johnson and Dr. Michael E. Webber’s newly released book titled From Athletics to Engineering: 8 Ways to Support Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for All.” Johnnie Johnson is the President and CEO of World Class Coaching and a former NFL All Pro Safety for the Los Angeles Rams. Dr. Michael E. Webber serves at the Chief Science and Technology Officer of Engie, a global energy company based in Paris, France and professor of Engineering at the University of Texas in Austin.

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Tami Bonnell

EXIT Realty Corp. International, recently announced that the single-level residual income paid to-date by the company to EXIT associates across the U.S. and Canada has topped a half a billion dollars. During economic upheavals like those caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic where real estate was declared an essential service in some areas but not all, receiving a paycheck from EXIT’s corporate offices helped many associates weather the storm when they couldn’t serve clients. Communities across the U.S. and Canada will see a further bump in support as the funds pledged by EXIT Realty Corp. International to support local charities reach $6 million

Rebecca Steele

Rebecca Steele Spoke at HSoA’s virtual Belonging Summit April 7th & 8th on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives from across the HomeServices’ family of companies.

Desirée Patno

Launched NDILC’s Ten Women Leadership Principles designated as a Monthly Theme to collaborate and share stories across all media types. As a society we are too siloed in our professional and personal lives, we need to unite and share experiences to help embrace the legacy of generational stories. Learn from our past and past the torch! Created Women, Impact, Change, Working w/Family Offices, Women Housing Ecosystem & NDILC Leadership Principles Clubs on the new Audio App Clubhouse with over 20 million users to bring daily value in live dynamic settings around the world.

About NDILC The NDILC is dedicated to raising the number of women leaders and growing women’s employment and empowerment at all levels in the housing ecosystem. The Council, composed of senior executive women, works diligently toward gender equality and obtaining equal opportunity for women across America. To learn more about the NDILC, please visit www.NAWRB.com/NDILC/.

Who do you know that is a perfect NDILC fit?

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sheCenter(fold)

Teresa Bryce Bazemore In a personal and candid interview, Teresa Bazemore, President and CEO of Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, shares more than her background as a mortgage banking professional. Her story is one of emotional impact that inspired her to create a legacy of change. Teresa’s lifetime tenure and recent short lived semi-retirement hasn’t been a cakewalk, but she does make cakes for dogs! Interview by Desirée Patno

Section 1: What Inspires Teresa? NAWRB: Who has been the most inspirational person in your life and why?

to do the right thing, to work hard, and make things happen. That fundamental grounding was so important for me going forward, having that unwavering support throughout my life.

Teresa Bryce Bazemore (TB): Well, it has to be my parents. I chalk everything up to them - and espeNAWRB: What inspires you today cially my mom who was a schooland how do you measure success? teacher for 30-plus years. I have a lot of her mannerisms. She and my dad TB: What inspires me is seeing the were leaders in their church commuimpact of what I do on the lives of peonity. She was also a really beloved ple and particularly children, especially schoolteacher. In fact, I had someone when we're talking about homeownerreach out to me recently because they ship. It's one of the reasons why we've saw that I had set up a scholarship Teresa at 4 years old with parents done a lot with Habitat for Humanity, fund at UVA in her name. It was a Burie and Dorothy Bryce because when you see a family moving former student of hers who said, "My wife and I are going to give to the scholarship fund because into the house, it's such an amazing feeling. Whether you she meant so much to me in high school." I was so over- donated towards the house, or you went and worked on the house - which I've done a few times over the years—it's such whelmed by that. a great feeling. That's really what inspires me, but also things I am an only child. My parents always taught me that I like being on the board of the Kimmel Center, where we could do anything I wanted to do. Even though they were started doing more to expand our offerings and bring the protective, they didn't try to stop me from doing new things. arts to the schools. Seeing the kids in these programs is so Whether it was being an exchange student in high school inspiring to me. and going to Europe, or whether it was other opportunities. For instance, I knew when I was going to law school that I would say the way I measure success for the companies my dad did not want me to be in New York City, yet he sup- that I lead is: Are we moving the mission forward while also ported me going. I view them as the foundation of who I am achieving financial health? Are we doing the right thing today. They were people who always cared about others, who for our employees? Are they engaged? Is it somewhere they gave back, and who were respected in the community. They want to be? And are we really doing the right thing for all believed that you should succeed and that it was up to you our stakeholders, including at the Federal Home Loan Bank NAWRB MAGAZINE |

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Teresa and her parents at a friend’s wedding in 1981

“Everyone here is the cream of the crop. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t the cream of the crop, but everybody is not going to be at the top of the class when these grades come out.” of San Francisco? This will focus on our members, because this is a cooperative enterprise. In other places I’ve been, it's been a focus on stockholders and the communities we serve. NAWRB: Before you entered the working world, if there were a person who helped shape your thoughts and expectations as a professional, who would that influential person be and why?

One of my law professors, a guy named Curtis Berger, who taught property law, gave a great lesson about what it means to be at the top of your profession. He did a lecture where he said, “Everyone here is the cream of the crop. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t the cream of the crop, but everybody is not going to be at the top of the class when these grades come out.” He talked about how important it was to be a whole person, a whole professional. He talked about why and gave us examples of famous people who had been having a positive effect on our lives across the country. He said, “Yeah, they were in the middle of the class.” That didn’t mean that any of us were going to aspire to be in the middle of the class; we are who we are. We’re always going to aspire to be the best. It was a great lesson in terms of helping us learn that what makes you a skilled professional is a lot of different things. I thought that was a wonderful thing to say to our class, so everyone would understand that they still had the ability to make a great impact, no matter how grades came out.

Section 2: A Passion That Became C-suite Executive NAWRB: Congratulations on becoming President & CEO at Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco!! What do you hope to accomplish with this incredible new opportunity? TB: The mission of the bank is to be a reliable source of lowcost liquidity to our members, to provide essential financial

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services, and expertise. A huge part of it is to also supply resources for affordable housing and economic development. Given my concerns around economic insecurity in our region and in our country, I’m really looking at: How do we expand what we’re doing? How do we build on what we’re doing to have more of an effect on those issues, whether it’s affordable housing or quality jobs? And how do we also make sure


that we have influence on closing the homeownership gap looked at that and said, “Okay, I think that means I want to for communities of color? Most people build their wealth be some kind of business lawyer,” but I didn’t know exactly through homeownership. It is also what that meant either. I started “I want to make sure that the the way they’re able to transfer to learn a little bit more about real wealth to the next generation. As from some friends who were Federal Home Loan Bank estate a country, we have to get this right pursuing it on the business side, and start making sure that every- of San Francisco continues and thought, “I’ll do that.” I decidone has an opportunity to particied to go to a law firm in Baltimore pate. That’s a lot of what I want to to be financially strong while – Piper & Marbury. It’s now DLA focus on. I want to make sure that Piper, which is one of the biggest we support our members the Federal Home Loan Bank of firms in the world these days. I San Francisco continues to be fiwent there because I had the abiland our community nancially strong while we support ity to do real estate development. partners.” our members and our community partners. I also want to continue to At that time, Baltimore was doing develop community programs that can make a difference, a lot of public-private partnerships. I did some work for the like the Bank’s affordable housing and homeownership pro- city – doing various kinds of developments that the city was grams have over the years. involved in, including multi-use projects and even a soccer field. There were all kinds of things that they were doing to NAWRB: What experience(s) shaped your passion for af- expand the community’s resources. I was able to work on fordable housing and community economic development? apartment building projects with set-asides, using municipal finance, for affordable units. I also worked with a community TB: When I went to law school, I decided that I would be a group to develop a community health care center. I had a good lawyer; I had the right skill set for it. However, I had no chance to see a lot of different projects, and it led me to be conception of what I wanted to do. I knew that I didn't want more interested in community development and affordable to be a criminal lawyer, litigator or family lawyer, because I housing. thought the latter would wrench my gut too much. It’s more about finding a way forward and bringing people together. I Later, I moved to Prudential, which is how I got into the residential mortgage lending instead of the commercial side of the business. During my time there, I was on a taskforce that focused on: How do we increase our lending to lowto-moderate income people? How do we make sure we're increasing access for communities of color? That became a focus of mine throughout the rest of my career. If you think about what we did at Radian Guaranty, a private mortgage insurance company where I was president for 8 years, it's all about access. That business is all about not needing to have 20% down to start living in a house, so that you can start your homeownership, start building your equity, and have a home for your family.

Columbia University Law graduation in 1984

Before Radian, when I joined NationsBank, they had a robust community development area that developed affordable housing. That unit of the bank became one of my clients, in addition to working as Chief Legal Officer for the mortgage banking business. So this became another opportunity for involvement in the community development business.

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NAWRB: What lessons learned from the 2008 housing crisis do you feel will be helpful as you address the COVID-19 impact on America, financially and economically?

We also learned that the average person didn't walk away from their home, even though they were underwater. The average person stayed, because, where else would they go if they could still afford to stay in their home? There usualTB: This crisis is different from the last one because it is ly had to be a double trigger. It wasn't only that you were not led by housing. The way I describe this is, take what underwater; it was that you also lost your job, or there was happened over two-plus years before, and condense it into some other issue that happened in your life, that created the two months. Add in the effect on businesses, unseen before. situation where you couldn't afford to pay anymore. Those While we seem to be recovering faster than we did previous- are things that we've learned and so we're addressing them ly, I'm still concerned about differently. That's also why how this crisis has increased Most of the time, if people are the Fed’s quick action in the the wealth gap, and how it pandemic crisis is so importmay have exacerbated some in survival mode, it’s a “total hun- ant. Last time, it took a while of the homeownership gap figure out how to respond. ker down”. They’re just hoping to issues we were already trying This time, it was very quick. I to address. Some of the lesthat they can find their way out. think that has helped us, and sons we learned previously that we have more tools in include how important it is to try to avoid foreclosures. We our toolkit than when we entered the Great Recession. want to keep people in their homes because of the devastating impact that losing a home has on families and neighbor- NAWRB: You spent over 10 years growing Radian Guaranhoods. We've seen that once houses transition from being ty, and then became the President. What was your greatest homeowner-owned to rentals, it's exceedingly difficult to accomplishment now looking back? have those houses come back into the homeownership inventory. Additionally, we have a huge supply shortage that TB: What I'm most proud of is that I was able to manworsens the disparities that we already have. We also need age us through survival mode and still have growth at the to be exercising prudent risk management and ensure that same time. Which is typically not the case, right? Most of we're not overreacting. The pendulum went too far before the time, if people are in survival mode, it’s a “total hunker the Great Recession, with a lack of sufficient risk manage- down.” They’re just hoping that they can find their way out. ment and not enough prudent guidelines in place to ensure One of the important things we had to do was mitigate our we would have sustainable homeownership - to allow people risk, including managing our losses. Our ability to write new to stay in their homes and not be devastated by a foreclosure. business was one of the ways that would help us grow out Then the pendulum swung too far in the other direction, and of a difficult financial situation. Our quarterly reports about that took a lot of work and data analysis to swing it back to a our portfolio were used to discuss the diminishing percentplace that allowed for more but, sustainable, homeownership age of loans that were pre-2009. We then highlighted how opportunities. many of those loans had been modified or refinanced under the HAMP and HARP programs. We also talked about all the loans that were insured in 2009 and beyond, because the quality and performance of those loans were superior. The capability to manage the losses and grow at the same time is one of the things that I'm most proud of, because it put the company in a great From left to right, 5 months old, Kindergarten graduation, 1st grade school photo

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position coming out of the Great Recession. We started using a lot more data to drive our risk management decisions, in terms of what we needed to do at the beginning of the recession in terms of how we needed to tighten things up, but also understanding when there were opportunities for us to do more, and to have that pendulum come back closer to the middle, which is where people really would have an opportunity to have homeownership in a sustainable way. That’s how I think about my time at Radian. I would also say that I'm proud of the time we spent partnering with organizations such as NAREB, NAHREP, AREAA, and the National Bankers Association. We took advantage of the partnerships to help our customers understand how they could do a better job reaching out to communities of color, and how they could partner with us to expand their loan volume. If you want to think about your customer base and how you grow it, you have to think about reaching out to everyone. I had a wonderful opportunity to use my position at Radian to help illuminate the growing diversity of future home buyers and to work with our customers to do more to serve a diverse customer base. That's also something that I feel good about. NAWRB: How difficult was it to get to a C-level position in the mortgage banking industry, and has the industry really changed for women, or a person of color?

about four months into the job. It gave the board some confidence about me taking over this role. The wonderful thing was that I knew S.A. Ibrahim, Radian’s CEO, from other roles. We had been on the MBA board and the Fannie Mae National Advisory Council together. One of the things I had done before going to Radian was to join up with some of my former Prudential colleagues to build out a startup, Nexstar. When S.A. was at Greenpoint, that firm became one of our

We still have to make sure that we're telling college students about these opportunities and getting more diversity coming into this industry. customers. He saw me in those contexts. Even though I was the General Counsel, I was very much involved in growing and building Nexstar. He had a lot of confidence in my abilities when he hired me, and felt I could do more. That became the opportunity for me to move to the C-Suite. We're starting to see more change than we have in the past. I can remember when I started getting involved in the leadership at MBA. Often, I was one of two women in the board room and sometimes there were two people of color, but sometimes I was the only one. We still have a lot of work to do with respect to diversity in mortgage banking, especially when it comes to people of color being in the highest positions in the industry. We're in a better place than we were, and the number of women we're seeing rising to top level positions is also much better than it was 15 years ago.

TB: It's interesting coming up through the legal ranks. I won't say it was easy, but it was a little bit easier to reach the general counsel position. Women have had more of an opportunity in that realm of the mortgage banking industry. I had a lot of folks who were Family trip to Napa Valley in supportive in that regard, in terms of 2019, Lenny, Teresa, Jordan reaching out to me about new opporand Alexis tunities over the years. Getting into the C-level side of it, where you're really It's exciting to see someone like Kristy on the business side - it was something Fercho become the first African Amerithat I always wanted to do. I would always have some of the can and African American woman to become the chair of folks I was working with saying to me, "you would be really the MBA. I'm excited to see that happen and I think we'll good at running the business," but the opportunity never see more of that. We're starting to see more people of colseemed to arise. I call becoming a member of the C-Suite or running large divisions of banks. For instance, seeing the silver lining of the financial crisis. I had been at Radian Thasunda Duckett, who was recently named the CEO of long enough to demonstrate my capabilities, including the TIAA-CREF, after leading consumer banking at JPMorgan risk management work. I had added risk to my portfolio Chase, is very exciting. We're also starting to see some of

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the folks who've been coming through the ranks of banking, getting significant leadership opportunities, but I still believe that mortgage banking is one of those careers areas, that most people don't know about in order to consider it as a career. When you talk to others in the industry about how they chose their career, many of them say, "you know what, I sort of fell into this," or maybe a family member was in that

business. If you're a woman, or you're a person of color, it may be less likely that you get into it that way. We still have to make sure that we're telling college students about these opportunities and getting more diversity coming into this industry, so eventually more people of color are promoted into C-suite positions.

Section 3: Semi-Retirement, Passions, & A Dog Bakery NAWRB: What did you love about semi-retirement? What passions did you continue and/or discover in your free time? TB: I'm not sure - I might be a failure at retirement. I stayed busy during that time. One of the things I miss most about retirement is my morning walks with my husband and our dog. That was nice. While I was, quote-unquote, semi-retired – I'm a super Type A person and always needed to be engaged in other pursuits. I got more involved with boards, and as part of new boards it was about really getting to understand the business. When I was on the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh Board, I started to understand the Federal Home Loan Bank System in a way that I hadn't previously. Since being on the T Rowe Price Mutual Funds Board, I have spent a lot of time learning more about the mutual funds industry. I chaired two nonprofit boards in semi-retirement. One, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which is in Philadelphia, is the second most impactful art center in the country, after Lincoln Center. I was the first woman and African American to chair that board. I also chaired, up until the end of this past year, the board of Public Media Company. PMC works with public broadcasting stations in both the radio and television space to make sure that nonprofit broadcasting and public media are available across the country. I continue to serve on the board of the University of Virginia Foundation, which is the real estate foundation for the university. We own a research park, a hotel, a golf course, and we manage properties for the university. I also chair the Audit Committee, which includes compensation. Last, but not least, I was co-chairing the planning of a national conference for another organization that I belong to. Unfortunately, we had to unwind the whole conference because it was supposed to take place at the end of May 2020. That was a whole other endeavor. I did find more time to work out consistently, to read and to connect with friends. But I did

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2019 Hamilton Gala at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

not get back to playing the piano again. I had that on my list. I never got back to that. NAWRB: Your husband opened a dog bakery -- how exciting, as a multiple furry girl owner! How has COVID-19 impacted the business and what do you love about the business? TB: First, I should say my husband is a real estate developer. When we were in Philadelphia, he was doing a great deal of work in one of the historic districts of Philadelphia called Manayunk. He did a lot of redevelopment of buildings that


had retail on the bottom floor and apartments above. Occasionally, he would put a business in the retail space. He had an art gallery for about five years and a juice bar in one of his other buildings. For another building he owned, my two ideas were a shoe store or a pet bakery. I always thought it would be fun to own a pet bakery. So, he decided that that's what he would do. What's great about the renovation he did of the pet bakery building is the play space in the basement and outdoor patio. When you walk downstairs, there is a community room where owners and their dogs could go down and play pre-pandemic. We had a variety of programs. Someone came in and taught doggy yoga classes and we’d have birthday parties and we'd we sell cakes for dogs. The great thing is

the dogs in the community love it. Typically, the retail businesses are closed on Monday. We decided we would do the same thing. I had owners telling me how they would walk their dogs. Their dog would stop in front of the pet bakery, because they wanted to go in, but it was closed because it was Monday. We just love that. We love having something that is a great business for the community. People were incredibly supportive during the pandemic, but we did have to shut our doors for a couple of months. We were able to keep our employees on board. We had people calling in orders that they could pick up. We managed to get through that, and we're focused on building the business. He's looking at launching a couple of new products that could be sold on a national scale.

Section 4: Lessons to A Younger Self NAWRB: Where do you see yourself in five years, and what would you tell your younger self from lessons learned? TB: In five years, I hope that I've significantly moved the mission forward at the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco: that we will be seen as a leader in the system and that we are viewed as an important part of the housing ecosystem, by not only our members and the communities we serve, but also by the regulators and the legislators. I want to make sure that in doing that mission we're improving the lives of the citizens in California, Nevada, and Arizona. Those are the states in our district and we're looking at ways to do some more innovative things that could decrease the wealth gap, not only in our footprint, but also serving as a model in other states.

High School graduation in 1977; I Delivered the Class address

One of the things I loved about my younger self was being truly fearless. I still think I have that in terms of raising my hand, being willing to take on challenges, and thinking about things from a calculated risk point of view, and having fortitude as a way to move forward. What I would teach my younger self is to make sure that people know your accomplishments. I think as women we tend to keep our heads down and think that our work will get noticed. You realize, as you're going through your career, that you can make sure that people you work for or other people in your sphere are aware of your accomplishments. You can do it without being braggadocious. That's something that I learned and would have taught my younger self.

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I remember when I was a senior in high school, in January, a friend of mine (who was my boyfriend at the time) and another friend were killed in a car accident, when their car was hit by a train. It was at a train crossing near my house. The train crossing didn't have a gate or lights. Two cars had gone across, and then they were killed instantly crossing the

tracks. It had a significant impact on the community and on our school. As you can imagine, it also affected me personally. I felt like I had to make something good out of it. I decided that the way to do that was to get a petition going. I walked from house to house, and I petitioned the city council to put up lights and a gate at that railroad crossing to make sure that this never happened to anyone else. I had a meeting with the mayor and got it done. The lights and gate are still there. One of the lessons that it taught me was, when you have things that happen in your life that may be setbacks, or difficulties, you have to understand how you're going to move forward beyond that. You should also take that experience and figure out: Are there ways to make it better, so that someone coming behind you doesn't have that same experience? That's what I did in that situation. People have helped me in my career, and I believe it's important to pay it forward. Not everyone should have to reinvent the wheel. For those of us who had learnings across the course of our career, we should be able to share those learnings so other people can benefit from them and potentially accelerate in their career faster than we were capable of doing.

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Technology

The Possibilities of PropTech: A decades long journey through the lens of data

Early days The world was melting, one home at a time. It was the summer of 2008, and the white-hot height of the housing market was facing the harsh chill of reality coming to roost. Many of my family friends and colleagues were facing looming foreclosures due to death, sickness, and divorce, and were running short on both options and hope. It was the wild west of foreclosure “solutions,” with a lot of promises and slick marketing accompanied by equal amounts of disappointment and frustration by homeowners. I was trying to find a way to cut through the noise to curate people and companies who could actually help my friends. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t simply find one; so, I decided to make one. At the time, the MLS didn’t have a limit on search records as they do today. I was able to mine the database to find which agents closed the most short sales in the fastest length of time with the most accurate pricing. I assembled an A-team where I was able to help a single mother move on from a devastating divorce. There was a couple who's pregnant wife was living in a mold infested, partially destroyed home due to a landslide who could finally afford to move to a safer place.

I was trying to find a way to cut through the noise to curate people and companies who could actually help my friends. Then there was a family whose sole breadwinner became ill. Their daughter, fresh out of college, was bearing the financial burden for so long, could finally have her own life again. Being able to conduct a simple search on my end to get these families to the other side of their situation after months of pain has always stuck with me: the data helped drive a better future and shape a reality where they could dream of a life that didn’t involve being weighed down by a property that had once been full of hope and now had become a source of fear.

Leaving earth I ended up working in commercial foreclosures doing asset management and acquisitions for a subsidiary of the largest distressed property owner nationwide. The commercial real estate world was for the most part pre-cloud; we only used two cloud-based solutions in the entirety of our work NAWRB MAGAZINE |

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which meant much of the effort was reconciling different (and oftentimes opposing) data sources. Our product was commercial mortgage-backed securities, which meant that we’d take large files of random PDF and picture files, and through a not very scientific process, turn them into bonds that were sold on Moody’s and rated a B+ or better. Despite my reservations on how these conclusions were made, our firm had a reputation for being technologically adept because apparently we were the only ones with a formal database to manage our assets.

At this point, it was 2014 and cloud-based technology was well underway. I worked as an internal product manager with VTS and Hightower, which created a mobile-based way for firms to gain unprecedented insight into leasing activity. Their merger would later create the first billion-dollar proptech unicorn. I also had the pleasure of working the Honest Buildings teams, who paved the way for automating the costly tenant and building improvement process. We spent six months in the trenches working across finance, accounting, and asset management teams in order to refine a process that impacted $200 My brother who was working in million in construction annually. e-discovery, which was a predeI was also able to work with the cessor to AI for legal documents, executives of Voyanta, Real FounIf we could just get along with my friends who worked dations, Pereview—comprehenthe few data points that in software development, gave me sive tools that were able to provide context that for the volume of data would determine whether financial reporting and insights we handled, our technology tools an asset could be a bond, it across an entire portfolio, from aswere not sufficient. I had the forset to investor reports. However, would have eliminated tune of having an internal develthere was something missing: all 90% of the work. opment team at my disposal, so I of this data was thus far descripspearheading variance analysis and tive. While it was leaps and bounds disposition tracking solutions to automate much of the ahead of where the industry had been just a few years earbrain damage my team was facing on a daily basis. At the lier, once again looking at my peers’ work in the software time, I was newly engaged and planning my wedding while industry, I knew we were up to a decade behind where the simultaneously putting in many late nights because of the rest of the world was with technology. sheer busy work involved with document processing. If we could just get the few data points that would determine Beyond the cloud whether an asset could be a bond, it would have eliminated By 2018 I had finished my stint at business school, gotten 90% of the work. I knew the technology existed, but at that certified in data science from Johns Hopkins, and achieved point it didn’t touch real estate. At that point, one of the my software product manager (SPM) certification. At this driving forces in my life was to make that painstaking job point I finally felt well-equipped to leverage quantitative tools on thirty years of real estate data that was lying go away with whatever new technology I could find. around, unused, just waiting to be learned from. This was a New heights pivotal time where I could start asking the following quesWith my resolve to put my previous job behind me, I did tions and finally had some options in the marketplace for a part-time MBA at UCLA with a focus on technology answers: How might we use similar algorithms in digital leadership. I got to study under Terry Kramer, who was a marketing (churn and retention) to anticipate tenants leavformer global telecom executive who launched the iPhone ing? How might we apply natural language process (NLP) with Steve Jobs in Europe. From him, I learned a whole that was actively being used to analyze legal contracts to new construct of how to assess and anticipate disruptive automate loan abstraction and improve work order mantechnologies, and I applied this newfound knowledge to agement? In what ways could we use AI to analyze letters my work at a $10B investment management shop that was of intents (LOI’s) with leases in order to formulate better the sixth largest global owner of office. pricing strategies when it come to the negotiating table with tenants like WeWork? This felt like the second inning of a game the was long overdue to be played.

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The upcoming horizon We have just begun to have tools that owners and operators in real estate can practically use. While there are many solutions flooding the proptech market, with early-stage startups hell bent on “fixing the broken trillion dollar industry,” there is still a large talent gap of technologists with operating experience, or those with operating experience with enough technical knowledge or partnerships to make changes. The next big move for the industry would be to have key real estate executives sponsor technology projects and support them. Here are a few practical steps for people to get started: • CLEAR DIRECTION. Not just to have a “tech” initiative because other firms have such initiatives and your investors asked for them and so you put it on the deck and now you don’t know what to do. Set clear results areas: reduce X process by Y%, reallocate people to higher value activities, save Z% in costs annually. • HIRE OUTSIDE. Having a third party, objective consultant to run short, effective pilots to evaluate technology products will save you time and minimize the politics involved with technology selection. Better yet, if the consultant is good, your team will have better tools in evaluating new technology early on. • MAKE DATA A CORE DRIVER. Even before COVID, Bain determined that leaders in data had an unfair advantage that made them perform better, execute successfully, and move faster than their competition. It’s not enough to solely rely on broker’s opinions—at this point you can expect everyone has fairly similar access to market information. In order to stay competitive, real estate firms will need to seek access to data sets with unique insights that accelerate their decision making and minimize expenses.

Hazel Mann CEO Volynt, Inc.

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For the First Time, LGBTQ Americans will be protected under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibits discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, handicap and family status. Sexual orientation and gender identity were not explicitly included. In a US historic first, The HUD directive begins implementation of the new policy set forth in President Biden’s Executive Order 13988 on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation issued on inarguation day.

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ination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in federally funded housing programs. No one should be discriminated against because of who they love or how they identify – but sadly this happens all too frequently. That is why we must finally get the Equality Act signed into law, so we can outlaw this kind of discrimination in every part of our society, not just in our federally funded programs. While we celebrate this progress in the fight for LGBTQ equality, we must also recommit to the work that still lies ahead.” [Statement, 2/11/21]

As of 2020 according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, it was still illegal to be LGBT+ in 70 countries and in 12 countries could be given the

For the full press release of the HUD Directive: https://www.hud.gov/press/ press_releases_media_advisories/hud_ no_21_022 Equal and fair housing opportunities are long overdue with so much more work to be done.

As of 2020 according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, it was still illegal to be LGBT+ in 70 countries and in 12 countries could be given the death penalty. The world marks 31 years on May 17th, 2021 since the World Health Organization (WHO) declassified “homosexuality” as a mental disorder.

On June 1st, 2021, President JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR. proclaimed June 2021 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to recognize the achievements of the LGBTQ+ community, to celebrate the great diversity of the American people, and to wave their flags of pride high.

Equality Caucus Co-Chair Congresswoman Sharice L. Davids: “I am thrilled that HUD took an important step today to fully enforce the Fair Housing Act and prevent discrim-

For a full press release from the Briefing Room: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/06/01/a-proclamation-on-lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-and-queer-pride-month-2021/

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Government

The Struggle for Fair Housing in the U.S. Further, we know that organizations like the National Fair Housing Alliance and many of their local affiliates often bust unscrupulous landlords for racial bias in renting apartments. Unfortunately, in some neighborhoods in Maryland and across the country it is not uncommon for Black persons to be told that an apartment has been rented, only to be made available for a White person. Additionally, sometimes Black people may have to pay twice the amount of deposit compared to a White person. There remains constant bias in housing against persons on public assistance programs like Section 8 (which provides financial assistance to help pay the rent). Discrimination by Family Composition

The Fair Housing Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on April 11, 1968, one week after the Assassination of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Initially heralded as a major victory in the movement for Civil Rights in the U.S., the Fair Housing Law prohibited much of the overt or in your face discrimination based largely on race. However, the law lacked teeth for enforcement due to loopholes and much more. Just over 50 years later, housing in the U.S. remains largely racially segregated and very unequal.

Discrimination in Purchasing a Home

Two years ago, Newsday, released a report, “Long Island Divided-Investigation,” a two-year investigation of housing discrimination of major southern suburbs of New York City. Prospective Black homebuyers were usually steered to mostly Black neighborhoods, and often required to provide a pre-approval letter from a lender before being shown a home by a real estate agent. The opposite was true for prospective White homebuyers. In fact, at least one Black buyer was told to provide a copy of their tax return prior to being shown a home. This pattern of housing discrimination is not unique only to New York State.

Discrimination by Race and Income

When the Fair Housing Act was passed it permitted an owner-occupied, two-family home or duplex to engage a limited form of discrimination. Also, religious organizations and private clubs can discriminately limit housing to its members.

While the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination on family status or composition, there continues to be ads on social media, newspapers and other public places where property owners and landlords blatantly break the law. In recent years, Craigslist and Facebook were busted for allowing advertising on their website and social media networks that had postings such as “No tenants with Children.” In recent years, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development has sued and had various male landlords prosecuted for trying to exchange sex for rent payments with female tenants.

More Must Be Done to Stop Housing Discrimination

Although the signs may not say, “No Blacks” or “Whites Only,” the legacy of Jim Crow and racial discrimination persists in the housing system with one process for Black people and another for White people. Renting an apartment or buying a home “while Black” needs to become a thing of the past. Increased funding for fair housing monitoring, education and outreach must be expanded at the local, state, regional and national level. Antoine M. Thompson is the Chair of the Board of Housing Options Planning Enterprises (H.O.P.E.) a local community development corporation in Prince George’s County, Maryland. He is also the National Executive Director for the National Association of Real Estate Brokers and licensed Real Estate Agent with MMB Realty Group.

Antoine M. Thompson National Executive Director NAREB

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Business Ownership

MAINTAINING FAMILY COMMUNICATION, COLLABORATION, AND CONNECTION

Even with the advantages of money, history tells us that maintaining family communication, collaboration, and connection will require its own investment to be successful. The adage “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations” is not unique to America. In Asia, the phrase is “rice paddy to rice paddy” and in the Netherlands it’s “clog to clog.” Creating a structure and process for governance of the family itself is a long range investment to avoid these proverbs. A successful governance system equips your family with procedures to navigate the challenges of family, business, finance, and continuity. Creating a multi-generational approach that is inclusive enough to serve the current generation and flexible enough to meet the needs of future generations can position your family to thrive now and in the future.

A successful governance system equips your family with procedures to navigate the challenges of family, business, finance, and continuity.

There are three main components of a Family Governance System:

1. A Family Constitution or Strategic Plan • Sets the internal and external mission and vision for the family

• Defines the values by which the family and related enterprises will operate

• Identifies family leadership roles, rights, and responsibilities

2. Family Calendar • Sets regular family meetings, which may involve an outside facilitator to help address issues, concerns or conflicts, and promote understanding

• Creates opportunities to celebrate individual and family milestones • Allows the family to share or collect stories that capture multigenerational history

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3. Succession Planning and Education • Educate family members about roles and the responsibilities of ownership, family history, management of assets, and finance • Create experiences that prepare the next generation to work together

Families that create this system together are more invested in a successful outcome. Family meetings are an investment of time to identify and celebrate the unique gifts and talents in the family and foster communication and trust. Engaging your family members to collectively come up with your family’s mission, vision, and values can be a challenge in these divisive times, but the goal is to encourage unity around shared values. Stanford’s Effective Philanthropy Learning Center created a Values Card exercise that allows each family member to identify and share their top values, and incorporating a facilitator adds a neutral person. A focus on family fun for connection is critical. You want your family to look forward to gathering. This can be accomplished by identifying interesting destinations (let generations take turns picking the location). Shared experiences create opportunities to invest in family memories. For example, the grandkids can put on a play for grandparents, generation 2 or 3 can interview generation 1, or the family can embrace “voluntourism,” a vacation that includes a component of volunteer work.

A focus on family fun for connection is critical. You want your family to look forward to gathering. Philanthropy can be the best family experience to strengthen collaboration. Designing a strategic giving plan and finding the shared family focus areas is a journey that can be navigated together. Philanthropic advisors can work with your family, and the Philanthropy Tool Kit (https://pacscenter. stanford.edu/the-philanthropy-toolkit/) launched by Stanford’s Effective Learning Initiative provides a step-by-step workbook to follow. It begins with finding your focus area, involving your family, structuring the giving, finding and vetting organizations and making and tracking gifts. Identifying the giving structure (foundation, donor advised fund or writing checks) is best navigated with your advisors based on your immediate and long-term goals. A family foundation provides mentoring opportunities to prepare heirs for wealth. The reality is collective decision making as a family can get tense when divergent political and social opinions are at the table. One option is to allocate part of the giving to “core” grants but allow each family member to control a discretionary budget that allows them to support their personal causes. Having a seat at the table is a privilege and setting expectations up front allows family members to self-select. This table gives you a window into the future as you observe family members doing the work and making decisions together. Family giving experiences, including site visits, volunteering, serving on boards and learning about the communities you serve, creates compassion. Your family will recognize their good fortune and giving empowers them to be the best person they can be. Collaborating with other like-minded individuals and families can increase your impact and also puts you in a community with like-minded philanthropists. Thoughtfully designed, carefully implemented, and perpetually nourished family governance is an investment in your family and planning for generations not yet met.

Marty Dutch

VP, Director of Philanthropy Services First Foundation

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Media

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Who Cares for Caregivers? AI Technology Rises to the Task By: Dr. Chitra Dorai

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic of this century has accelerated the push to a profound shift in consumers attitude towards health care. Deloitte Study on the “Future of Health” in 2020 calls out a change of consumer focus from “health care” to “health” [https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/life-sciences-and-health-care/articles/future-of-health.html]. The study attributes this important shift to increased consumer engagement, availability of interoperable, open and secure platforms and higher connectivity between data generated and data maintained by various actors in the healthcare ecosystem. Foreshadowing the onset of this trend, Amicus Brain Innovations began its work two years ago with a focus on the health and wellbeing of caregivers of people living with neurodegenerative disorders. Amicus Brain is a digital health technology startup devoted to the mission of transforming the task of caregiving and elevating dementia care for the greying globe. Founded by an AI Scientist with over 30 years of experience in research and development alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures. of industry innovations, Amicus Brain’s purpose is to de- pdf ], more than 6 million Americans who are 65 years mocratize access to Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and older are living with Alzheimer’s disease today. Alzsolutions that help increase caregivers’ wellness and enable heimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia. people living with dementia to remain living in the com- Dementia refers to a set of symptoms indicating cognitive decline such as memory loss, challenges with reasoning and munity longer. thinking which affect a person’s ability to perform every day activities. Almost two-thirds of Americans with AlzWhy is Dementia Caregiving So Hard? heimer's disease are women. The number of people living According to the Alzheimer's Association’s 2021 Alz- with Alzheimer’s disease is expected to reach nearly 13 heimer's Disease Facts and Figures report [https://www. million by 2050.

The number of people living with Alzheimer’s disease is expected to reach nearly 13 million by 2050.

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Aging Population

leading to suboptimal decisions. There is a ripple effect of the burden with escalating employer costs, health insurance costs and workplace impact. This is an enormous issue globally as the aging population grows in many countries. Caregiving, as the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls it [https://www.cdc.gov/aging/caregiving/caregiver-brief. html], is a public health issue. The federal government of the United States of America has recognized the scale and severity of the issue and set up a alzheimers.gov website [https://www.alzheimers.gov/] in March 2021 as a federal government portal for dementia information and resources. At Amicus Brain, caregivers have come to occupy the central focus of our work towards building technology solutions that provide meaningful support to caregivers to tackle the tasks of caregiving and decrease their burden. Source: Alzheimer’s Association’s 2021 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures Report.

Who are the caregivers of the rising population of people living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia? More than 11 million Americans as family members and friends of people living with dementia are estimated to provide unpaid care. In 2020, the extent of the unpaid care is projected to be 15+ billion care hours and the economic value of this time is estimated to be nearly $257 billion [https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf ]. About two-thirds of caregivers are women and over one-third of dementia caregivers are daughters. Approximately 10% of caregivers are spouses of people living with the dementia. About 60% of caregivers are employed. Patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease live 4-8years on the average, while some live even longer, signaling slow disease progression. To the family, this means extended, costly, and stressful caregiving period. What’s the caregiving burden like? It is physically tiring with increasing demand of caregiver’s time as disease progresses, emotionally draining as the person living with dementia goes through personality changes and the caring gets tough, and financially depleting with out of pocket costs, reduced hours of work and lost income. As the disease progresses, caregivers burn out with continued stress

The Solution Amicus Brain’s AI-embedded platform and services meet the informational, educational, and community resources needs of dementia caregivers and provide psychosocial support across dementia progression. This technology is HIPAA and FHIR compliant, making it easy to interoperate with clinical systems and electronic medical records. The personalized services make it easier and save time to acquire resources needed, increase patient adherence to care plans and get training at the time of need. The assistive services are easily accessible wherever and whenever needed on smartphones and tablets. Our technology is in user trials now. Interested caregivers are welcome to participate in community pilots (contact info@amicusbrain.com). Caregiver engagement and feedback will accelerate the rollout of scalable, cost-effective tools that significantly reduce caregiver burden and elevate the standard of care for people living with neurodegenerative disorders.

Dr.Chitra Dorai

Founder & CEO of Amicus Brain Innovations, Inc.

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Quality of Life

Could You Live in the Streets for Ten Years Waiting to Find a Home? Most people could not. Now imagine being a victim of domestic violence, fleeing your abuser, only to find yourself alone and living in the streets, and then having to wait over ten years to find a place to call home. Could you do it? Most would probably say no. Unfortunately, this is the stark reality for over 115,000 women living in California today. Nationally, 1 in 3 people living homeless are unaccompanied women, meaning they are alone without children or dependents, and 80% of them report trauma or abuse as the reason for their homelessness. Living on the streets is a breeding ground for additional trauma, violence, and both physical and sexual abuse. In fact, homeless women are 5-10x more likely to die or be assaulted than the general population and are victimized at a much higher rate than men (70% are victims of domestic violence and 41% are sexual assault victims). Couple this with the

average time of ten years to find a home (which is 2.5 times longer than men) and it is imperative that these women are able to find services who specialize in their unique needs.

It is imperative for their survival that women are provided with support and shelter.

Senate Bill 678 – the Unaccompanied Women Experiencing Homelessness Act of 2021 looks to address this very issue. As it is now, unaccompanied women, who make up 29% of the entire homeless population nationally, are not recognized as their own individualized group of people. This is a problem because most shelters provide services for men or for women with dependents, leaving women without dependents literally out in the cold to fend for themselves.

This is where WISEPlace comes in.

WISEPlace has been serving the Orange County community since 1924. We are the only shelter in Orange County solely dedicated to the needs of unaccompanied women. In 2020, of the 187 women we provided services for, 57% were survivors of domestic violence and 67% reported a disability. Women range in ages from 18 to 85+ and many have spent several years being homeless and without medical care. Through safe, transitional shelter and holistic, trauma-informed wraparound services, women who are fleeing abuse or trauma, or who have spent years fending for themselves on the street are able to get back on their feet, heal, and move from hopelessness and homelessness to housing and self-reliance. Senate Bill 678 will have a significant impact on the work that we do. By recognizing unaccompanied women for who they are, the state will be able to place a greater emphasis on preventing and ending homelessness for these women, which in turn will create more options for women seeking services. NAWRB MAGAZINE |

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With 1 in 3 of all homeless people being an unaccompanied woman, it is far past time to recognize the unique needs of these women so we as a community are able to help them heal and get back on their feet.

How Can I Help? • Help them Home. Join us in a countywide giving day for Orange County’s homeless population. You can find out more and support us here.

Since inception, WISEPlace has helped over 8,400 women transition from hopelessness and homelessness to permanent housing and self-reliance.

• Support Senate Bill 678 to give unaccompanied women the support and services they so desperately need.

Kellie Aamodt, first got involved with WISEPlace while she was Vice President of Sales at UPS. She and her staff volunteered and assisted in a variety of ways. Now, as one of the members of the NAWRB National Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council, she continues to find ways to support WISEPlace. “They do amazing work and are one of the only shelters to focus one unaccompanied women. Having WISEPlace in Santa Ana makes a true difference in our fight against homelessness, specifically for women. It’s a fantastic organization.”

Brateil Aghasi

CEO WISEPlace

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• Amazon and Instacart Gift Cards. Due to the pandemic, women in the program are in need of basic necessities for work and life. • Lunch or Dinner Sponsorships. $350-$500 provides a meal for all the women in the shelter. • Volunteer. WISEPlace utilizes volunteers for a range of services, workshops and activities. • Stay in Touch. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

To get involved or support WISEPlace through our wish list, please visit https://wiseplace.org/wish-lists/, contact us at volunteers@wiseplace.org or call 714-542-3577.


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