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Thursday, May 14, 2020, would have been our big CREATE Gala, but our large gathering is not possible during current Shelter-In-Place restrictions.  However, the show must go on and our work purposefully continues, despite COVID. And COVID-19 is not all that we are tending to.  We have not paused on other critical work, and we will not rest. 

CREATE continues to make good progress tackling our talent drought! For six years, we've relied on the Gala to highlight the achievements of our workforce development initiative, showcase our student graduates, honor an Industry Partner for their support (this year, Tishman-Speyer), and importantly, to raise funds for the Commercial Real Estate Alliance for Tomorrow's Employees (CREATE).  Besides being a wonderful, industry-wide networking and social occasion, the Gala is by far the biggest source of funds for our program that identifies, trains, and recruits new talent for commercial real estate so that employers have a diverse pipeline of job-ready candidates for their entry-level positions.  Our lack of access to qualified talent problem is not going away, and it's important that we expand our efforts to address it.

CREATE's classroom training at San Francisco State University and Merritt College in Oakland has progressed and evolved.  This week, we are graduating another thirty-two students from the CRE Fellows Program, along with eleven additional graduates from our second-generation class, which we call Fellows 2.0.  That's another forty-three potential new employees for Bay Area real estate firms!  Students receive training through the S. F. State and Merritt College classes that we fully fund, taught by industry professionals that are members of BOMA San Francisco, BOMA Oakland/East Bay, IREM and NAIOP.  Students also receive supportive mentoring and soft-skills coaching from members of BOMA San Francisco's Careers Committee via a fully-developed, eight-week long Mentor Program.We continue to update our curriculum and support our instructors.  After a major re-tooling of class materials last year, we are funding additional modifications with the support of an Instructional Design Consultant.  Our goal is to keep our programming relevant to the evolving needs of employers, and to package our instruction in the most meaningful, accessible format for today's learners.

Another new development is our Employer/Employee on-line connection tool.  This software supports employer's hiring needs.  It allows students to post their availability and employers to engage directly with potential interns and employees.  The software is being populated with data now, and will be available very shortly at www.createworkforce.org.

Absent an in-person Gala this year, we will find other ways to the generate revenues we need to grow this program, and we'll be asking for your support.  Making a financial donation helps us train and recruit new employees for your companies.  When the call comes, please support us, because CREATE is:

· Your direct pipeline to college graduates with relevant training
· Your solution to the CRE workforce shortage
· A resource for "job ready" graduates who are prepared to make a difference at your growing company
· Saving you money on recruitment
· Improving the quality and engagement of your new hires

Thank you for your support.