PROVIDENCE – The Blackstone Team at Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty, a Rhode Island-based luxury real estate firm, recently announced that it is launching a real estate agent scholarship and mentoring program aimed at bringing more Black professionals into the industry.
The Black Real Estate Agent Scholarship & Mentoring Program offers awardees $2,500 for their initial startup education and state licensing fees, along with $7,500 for living expenses.
“Pledging to bring more Black real estate agents into the top real estate markets in Rhode Island and bordering Massachusetts, The Blackstone Team is offering a more ethnically diverse scholarship and mentoring program,” the group said in a recent announcement. “The goal of the program is to open doors to Black real estate agents looking to be a part of the growing market.”
The program provides mentoring from members of The Blackstone Team over six months, while also requiring awardees to work for the Blackstone Team for six months. The Blackstone Team said it will offer support to awardees to explore career opportunities, including at other companies, upon completion of the program.
The Blackstone Team said it’s now accepting applications for the Black Real Estate Agent Scholarship & Mentoring Program through Jan. 1, 2023. Applications can be found on the team’s mentorship program web page at www.mottandchace.com/brea-program. For more information, email blackstone.team@mottandchace.com.
Applicants must be Rhode Island residents. The Blackstone Team said it plans to award one scholarship.
Part of the reason The Blackstone Team said it wanted to offer the mentorship program is because Black professionals are vastly underrepresented among the agents and brokers that make up the real estate industry in the U.S. Less than 6% of American real estate professionals identify as Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data cited by the group. The Blackstone Team called these “alarming” numbers that spurred it to take action.
“Our goal is simple, more Black real estate agents in the top real estate markets in Rhode Island and bordering Massachusetts,” the group said on its website. “We pledge to be more ethnically diverse and with the launch of this scholarship and mentoring program, we hope to open the doors to Black real estate agents looking to be a part of this growing market.”
Marc Larocque is a PBN contributing writer.
