Thirty women and people of color start learning to develop and sell real estate Friday, and build some social capital on the side.
"This is going to be really positive," said Farad Ali (right), project director with the N.C. Institute of Minority Economic Development and a member of Durham's City Council.
"Executive Minority Program in Real Estate" ("EMPIRE") is a three-month course in appraising, finance, law, design, sales and public incentives. The Institute of Minority Economic Development is a sponsor along with the Self-Help Credit Union and Durham Chamber of Commerce.
Ali said the course is particularly meant to enable minority business people to handle redevelopment projects in depressed areas such as Southside and Northeast Central Durham.
"I'm trying to organically grow developers," Ali said. "In my mind, the place where Durham has the highest growth potential is communities in need."
City and county officials and private citizens frequently complain that redevelopment projects afford too few opportunities for Durham's minority- and female-owned businesses and residents.
Depressed neighborhoods, Ali said, "already have a density of people of color" and the real-estate program "will allow people to build into their own communities, build social capital."
Joseph Bushfan's renovation of three buildings at Angier Avenue and Driver Street is an example of such an enterprise, he said.
The course's enrollment includes working appraisers, builders, real-estate salespeople and some Northeast Central Durham residents with projects in mind.
The course concludes with a competition in response to a city-issued request for qualifications and proposals for a particular project.
Ali said the program is intended to be ongoing, and is a pilot project that the institute and Self-Help may be replicate in other North Carolina cities if successful.
