Help your brokerage represent the diversity of the communities it serves and provide timely and engaging training for your sales force by applying for the Illinois REALTORS® and the Real Estate Educational Foundation’s (REEF) Diversity/Inclusion Grant.

The grant application takes just minutes to complete and can provide up to $1,000 to retain highly experienced diversity trainers such as Sher Powers of Nashville, Tenn., Michael Soon Lee of Dublin, Calif., Nate Johnson of St. Louis, Mo., Maurice Hampton of Chicago and T3 Sixty Consulting of San Juan Capistrano, Calif. You can select any one of the trainers to develop a virtual program tailored to your specific office or company.

Because the trainings are customized to a firm’s needs, they can complement existing initiatives or provide ways for offices to launch diversity initiatives, says Illinois REALTORS® Vice President of Professional Development Young Brockhouse.

To be eligible, the submitting organization must be an Illinois REALTOR® member firm and actively licensed by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

Sher Powers, CRS, ABR – The Nashville-based REALTOR® is the broker/owner for Urbane Residential Specialists and has assisted consumers with home buying and selling for 14 years. She has extensive experience on the local, state and national REALTOR® stages, including vice chair of the Tennessee Diversity Inclusion Committee and member of the NAR Housing Opportunities Committee. She is the Division 2 Vice President for Tennessee REALTORS®, representing the Middle grand division on the statewide association’s Executive Committee.

Michael Soon Lee, CRS, GRI – With more than four decades of experience as a California-based REALTOR®, Lee has owned and managed large franchised firms and small boutique real estate companies. He’s presented at 10 NAR conventions and he has coached or spoken to more than 10,000 real estate agents during his career. He encourages agents to notice the similarities in multicultural customers rather than the differences. He’s written eight books, including several about marketing and selling to multicultural consumers.

Nate Johnson, ABR, CIPS, CRS, GRI, SRES – The St. Louis-area REALTOR® is the president of Real Estate Solutions at Red Key Realty Leaders. He was president of the St. Louis Association of REALTORS® and has chaired several of its committees including the Equal Opportunity/Cultural Diversity and the Urban Affairs committees. He was chairman of the Missouri Association of REALTORS®’ Economic Development Council and the association’s 2018 president. He’s been the president of the board of directors for the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council and he’s earned the At Home with Diversity (AHWD), One America certification.

Maurice Hampton, ABR, CIPS, SRS – The Chicago-based REALTOR® is the managing broker/CEO for Centered International Realty Corporation. He’s been very active in REALTOR® activities on the local, state and national levels. He’s a past president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS®, a member of both the Illinois REALTORS®’ and the NAR’s boards of directors, the State Legislative Contact for State Sen. LaShawn Ford of Chicago and chairman of the Illinois REALTORS® Global Business Council. Hampton has earned a Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) designation and has served on the NAR CIPS Faculty for more than four years.

Apply for an Illinois REALTORS® and REEF Diversity/Inclusion Grant today!