The Greater Boston Real Estate Board and uAspire to award $110,000 at Leadership Breakfast

Boston, MA The Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB) and college financial aid services advisor uAspire will host the Second Annual GBREB Foundation Scholarship Fund Leadership Breakfast at the Boston Harbor Hotel on June, 3 from 7:30-9 a.m. The Foundation will award over $110,000 in scholarship assistance to 25 low-income, first-year college-bound students from the Greater Boston area at the event, which will be chaired by Larry Curtis, president & managing partner at WinnDevelopment. The Leadership Breakfast will also honor undersecretary of Housing and Community Development Chrystal Kornegay and Jack Spurr, president & CEO of A.W. Perry, and will feature a keynote address by Massachusetts lieutenant governor Karyn Polito.

Larry Curtis, WinnDevelopment

Jack Spurr, A.W. Perry

Karyn Polito, lieutenant governor

Kornegay and Spurr will be honored with uAspire’s First One Award, which is being given to them as real estate leaders who were the first generation of their families to graduate from college, and who subsequently made a meaningful impact on the lives of others. The honorees represent the power of higher education to propel individuals and families out of poverty and toward lives of opportunity and service. Created in 2011, winners have included former governor Deval Patrick, the late Boston mayor Thomas Menino, Kevin Phelan of Colliers, former Massachusetts U.S. senator Mo Cowan, and Goodwin Procter chairman Emeritus Regina Pisa.

GBREB and uAspire joined forces in 2012, and in the first five years of the alliance have distributed over $500,000 in “last dollar” scholarships – intended to fill the gap between students’ financial aid and the non-tuition costs of college, such as room and board, computers, and books and supplies – with the GBREB Foundation providing the funding and uAspire administering the scholarships. The scholarships are awarded based on academic achievement, leadership experience, extracurricular involvement, and demonstrated financial need, range from $1,000 to $5,000 per year per student, and are guaranteed for two years.

At the Leadership Breakfast, GBREB and uAspire will also announce the participants in the “College to Career Initiative” summer student internship program designed to cultivate a more diverse generation of real estate professionals in Greater Boston. The paid, 6-8 week program (which was launched last summer) connects economically disadvantaged but academically gifted students with firms involved in the various facets of the commercial real estate industry, including development, architecture, engineering, construction and finance. An integral component of the internship will be the pairing of students with a mentor to guide them, not only during the internship but through the academic year as they contemplate a career in the CRE industry. Leggat McCall Properties, WinnCompanies, Colliers International, Peabody Properties, A.W. Perry, Boston’s Luxury Properties and the Unit Realty Group are among the firms that have already agreed to provide internships for the summer of 2016, which begin in July. Openings exist for more firms to participate, and interested firms can contact Tom Doyle of GBREB tdoyle@gbreb.com or Wally DeGuglielmo of uAspire wallyd@uaspire.org.

At the Leadership Breakfast, each sponsored table will be accompanied by a scholarship student, and current table sponsors for the event include: WinnCompanies, Suffolk Construction, A.W. Perry, Beacon Communities LLC, Robert Beal, Claremont Companies, Eastern Bank, Equity Residential, First Resource Companies, Keith Construction, NEI Construction, Perry Brokerage Associates, and the Schochet Companies. The Real Reporter is the media sponsor for the event. Those interested in sponsorship opportunities should contact Tom Doyle at tdoyle@gbreb.com.

The Greater Boston Real Estate Board, founded in 1889, is the oldest real estate organization in America, representing over 9,000 members in the residential and commercial disciplines of the industry. The Board’s core mission is to provide education, advocacy, and philanthropy to the Greater Boston community. This scholarship, offered through the Greater Boston Real Estate Board Foundation, continues that commitment to education, and extends it to women and men who are pursuing their dream of receiving a college education.