Trammell Crow Co. is increasing its financial commitment to help diversify the commercial real estate industry through a donation to a group that helped advance the career of one of the development firm's employees.
Dallas-based Trammell Crow said it would make a $500,000 unrestricted donation over two years to the Toigo Foundation to support its mission of promoting the recruitment and retention of minority talent in the real estate industry. Trammell Crow said the funds would help the Oakland, California-based nonprofit organization foster the career development and increase the leadership presence of underrepresented groups in the real estate and finance industries.
Trammell Crow, one of the country's largest developers and a subsidiary of global brokerage CBRE, also has partnerships focused on diversity and inclusion with Project Destined, a social impact group created to provide underserved students with apprentice-style training in the real estate industry, and the Forte Foundation, which works to get women into significant positions through business education and professional development. Trammell Crow also works with commercial real estate industry associations Urban Land Institute and NAIOP to help diversify the industry.
The Trammell Crow-Toigo partnership was championed by Toigo alumnus Travis Melvin, a senior associate at Trammell Crow. Chief Operating Officer Adam Weers, who heads Trammel Crow's diversity and inclusion steering committee, played a key role in the partnership formation, the company said.
“As we adjust to a new way of working post-COVID, the real estate arena is undergoing dramatic changes," Weers said in a statement. "Having a team that is diverse — across ethnicity, gender, and experiences — coupled with a culture that ensures all talent is poised to contribute and thrive, is essential."
As it worked in the past with Toigo, Trammell Crow saw the opportunity to expand its efforts to work together to drive change in diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, at the company and in the overall commercial real estate industry, he said.
“At times of disruption, work around DEI — the exact, highly valuable work of the Toigo Foundation — needs to be amplified," Weers said.
The partnership's initiatives include the TCC Scholars Program that will provide a competitive internship to MBA students interested in a career in commercial real estate development. Participants who complete the internship and accept a full-time offer with Trammell Crow would receive up to $40,000 in scholarship funds.
Also, Trammell Crow said it would participate in various Toigo programs and events centered on student recruitment and advancement of underrepresented talent.
Melvin, who started at Trammell Crow about two years ago, is a Toigo alumnus who participated in the program while earning his master's degree at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
That one of its alumni helped make Trammell Crow's partnership with Toigo a reality shows how the group can work with the commercial real estate industry to effect change, Toigo Foundation President and CEO Nancy Sims said.