NAIOP Washington State has partnered with University of Washington (UW) to create the NAIOPWA Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Scholarship to support women and underrepresented minorities seeking ways to strengthen their place in the CRE industry. This scholarship provides financial aid to students enrolled in UW's Commercial Real Estate Certification Program, an eight-month course that prepares students for a career in CRE by providing insight into best practices and trends and helping them build industry connections. 

Through the NAIOP Washington State Foundation, NAIOPWA is able to apply the skills and resources of our membership to initiatives that give back to our community, engage students and foster their careers, and help create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive commercial real estate industry. These initiatives are possible because of the generous support of our Foundation Committee Sponsors. Click on any committee name below to learn more about these sponsorship opportunities:

“This isn’t just about programming for us. This is about a group of people called to action on something we are very passionate about, and we felt we had no choice but to do something.” – Serena Sayani, Diversity and Inclusion Co-Chair

In the moments, days and weeks since the death of George Floyd, many of our members have felt a similar call to action. Leading this charge for our organization is the Diversity and Inclusion committee. They have put together two events: A Candid Discussion about Racial Barriers in Commercial Real Estate, on June 30, and, in partnership with the Programs Committee, our July breakfast on Race and Real Estate, on July 15. Both panels are intended to shed light on the intersections between race and real estate through discussion of the history of real estate laws across the country, and to spark thoughtful dialogue with industry leaders on how to make positive changes to alleviate racial inequities in our communities and the built environment.

NAIOPWA acknowledges the impacts of racism on the built environment and within the commercial real estate industry. We stand with our community in solidarity against systemic racism, unconscious bias and all forms of inequality and injustice, including police brutality, which disproportionately affect people of color and specifically, Black people.

NAIOP Washington State Honored as 2020 Chapter of the Year

Repeat Achievement Signals Continued Strength of Organization

SEATTLE – NAIOP Corporate has honored NAIOP Washington State as Chapter of the Year for its 2019 performance, recognizing the chapter’s advocacy efforts, exceptional diversity and inclusion efforts, member engagement, and organizational growth. NAIOP’s annual merit awards program evaluates chapters on a national basis by chapter size for their education, government affairs involvement, member recruitment and retention, communications, and chapter management. 

“NAIOP Washington State is consistently among our best-performing chapters,” said Thomas J. Bisacquino, NAIOP president and CEO. “This year, it was our honor to recognize them as Chapter of the Year for their significant lobbying efforts, their strong membership recruitment and retention strategies, and their successful education and networking events that raise the profile of NAIOP and commercial real estate in the greater Seattle market. Congratulations to the chapter and its leaders for their commitment to and enthusiasm for our industry and association.”

Thank you, CREW Seattle and The Registry! On Wednesday night, NAIOP Washington State was honored as the 2019 Association Ally at the second annual Elevate Awards. This honor reflects the work of NAIOPWA’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee to support the objective of providing opportunity and furthering D&I in the CRE industry.

Our Diversity & Inclusion Committee is concluding its second year and has been behind efforts to bring more young and diverse individuals into CRE and NAIOPWA through efforts such as a new D&I internship program, the Hip Hop Architecture program at the UW, and student memberships. The team also hosted chapter events open to anyone involved in CRE interested in learning about increasing opportunities and representation for diverse individuals in our field.

NAIOPWA’s Sustainable Development Committee held its fourth annual Change Makers event on June 27, 2019. The event brings together voices from a diverse group of local change-making organizations making social, environmental, and economic impacts, and establishing Seattle as a leader in sustainable development and beyond. The goal was to pool our collective wisdom, challenge assumptions, reach across boundaries, and explore what's possible when everyone pulls in the same direction.

Who demands multiple mentors, likes working individually and has an attention span of eight seconds? A despondent Gen X’er? Nope. A forgetful Baby Boomer? Nah. Look no further than those born the same year Windows 95 was released. We found out about this generation and their values and expectations at this month’s NAIOPWA breakfast.