NYCHA High Schoolers Explore Real Estate Industry in NYU-Based Program
When NYCHA resident Tajeira Thomas now looks at a development parcel somewhere in New York City, she likes to think about its potential.
Whether considering how to revise a real estate project or plan a future use, the high school senior describes her vision as “imagining the world around me and building it up.” It’s a new perspective she has begun to develop since enrolling in the NYCHA Real Estate Scholars program at the NYU School of Professional Studies.
A new initiative of the Public Housing Community Fund, formerly the Fund for Public Housing – in partnership with the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate and development firm BFC Partners – the free Real Estate Scholars program exposes NYCHA residents in 11th and 12th grades to the commercial real estate industry through classes on a college campus.
In the six-week program, the students learn about topics such as design and development, the history of real estate, project feasibility, real estate valuation, and property/asset management, while taking field trips to development sites in the city. Participants receive a $250 stipend upon completion of the program, which graduated its spring cohort at the end of April.
After seeing a program flyer in her Glenwood Houses development in Brooklyn, Ms. Thomas believed the real estate course would allow her to explore a new field and stay active after school.
“I thought, this is something I want to learn about before I decide what I want to do,” said Ms. Thomas, who will attend Stony Brook University this fall.
Claire McLeveighn, Deputy Director of the Public Housing Community Fund, noted that the Real Estate Scholars initiative began as a pilot program last year, and one of its goals is to help NYCHA youth discover future career opportunities, including those in which women and people of color have been historically underrepresented.
“We want them to be exposed to these possibilities and to know that they can pursue these things,” Ms McLeveighn said. “It’s about broadening the landscape to know what is possible for them.”
In addition to teaching high school juniors and seniors about wide-ranging aspects of the commercial real estate field, the program offers them the experience of being in a college environment.
“We specifically designed the program in a way so that the students would get a feel of what it’s like to be in a university classroom and take what they’ve learned in that classroom and apply it in real life and real time,” Ms. McLeveighn explained.
While Ms. Thomas said that learning from NYU instructors with expertise in real estate has given her an example of what college might be like, she has also had the chance to discover the history of some real estate sites in her hometown. In field trips with fellow scholars, Ms. Thomas learned how areas near the World Trade Center were developed and discovered previously unfamiliar places such as Essex Crossing in the Lower East Side and Bedford Union Armory in Brooklyn.
“It’s nice to be able to go out and see all of those places,” she said. “It’s awesome; I’ve learned about parts of New York that I never knew existed.”
NYU School of Professional Studies Instructor Stephen Soler called the spring cohort scholars “an exceptionally bright group” who have shown keen interest during field trips and have wide-ranging aspirations for their college careers.
“They have asked extremely insightful questions and, as we walked the High Line, I got to know most of them,” Mr. Soler said.
One of the most exciting parts of the real estate course for Ms. Thomas was examining a particular plot of land and considering its development possibilities.
“I’m really getting into that because you can do anything with a piece of land,” she said.
For her final class project, Ms. Thomas selected a parcel of land near Rockaway Beach and proposed converting it into an Airbnb space due to its good access to the beach and a subway station.
Beyond the visual exposure to commercial real estate developments in New York City, Ms. McLeveighn said the program has shown participants how “real estate encompasses so much” and opens doors for a variety of careers.
A soon-to-be high school graduate, Ms. Thomas said she hopes to study computer science in college, but she may also consider pursuing one of the many career possibilities in real estate as a way to give back to her community.
“It would be nice to maybe one day develop affordable housing for people like me,” she said.
Photo caption: NYCHA Real Estate Scholars on a class field trip to the Oculus transit building at the World Trade Center.