A few days ago, I wrapped up work on a beautiful mentorship experience through FutureBUILDS.
If you’ve followed by blog over the summer, you may have heard me share about this program before.
In short, FutureBUILDS is a BIPOC Real Estate Development Incubator that seeks to refine collaboration between the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors.
This summer, I had the opportunity to partner with one of their mentees for what I can only describe as a deeply enriching two-way learning experience. Through our work, we were able to focus on:
✨Creating key connections and relationships that will help as he moves forward with his development project.
✨Identifying creative funding solutions available to him based on his background and development plans.
✨Unlocking housing supply to serve a variety of housing needs (his development approach includes options for both market and affordable housing—super innovative and exciting!).
Since the program is set up in Toronto, I was also interested to get an up-close look at the development landscape in Toronto.
Perhaps more than anything, my work with FutureBUILDS offered a profound look at the barriers and challenges developers—especially BIPOC developers and under-represented groups —are facing across Canada.
I’ll be sharing more about this experience later this month… But for now, I just want to express my gratitude for the opportunity, and to encourage anyone who may be looking for more purpose in their work to get involved in mentorship.
It was an absolute pleasure and privilege to be involved, and I look forward to continuing to build relationships with this incredible community of people who share values around doing brave things to address the housing problem in Canada.
Questions about the experience of mentoring or how you can get involved? Reach out to me—I’m an open book and always happy to share!
Wishing you a wonderful week in the meantime,
Tegan