Inclusion of Minority Real Estate Professionals and Asset Managers Urged as Congress Considers $700 Billion Bailout Plan
WASHINTON, DC – Maria Kong, President of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) today urged Congressional leadership, President Bush and Secretary of the Treasury Paulson, to act fairly and responsibly to ensure that minority-owned real estate, finance and legal professionals are included among the firms tapped to manage the multi-billion dollar asset portfolio the government plans to purchase from failing Wall Street investment houses, and flailing financial institutions.
“Minority business participation in this $700 billion bailout is as crucial to rebuilding our nation’s economy and stemming further community destabilization as shoring up Wall Street. We wholeheartedly support Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity and urge her colleagues, and the Administration to heed her consideration in this matter. As compromises are made to gain full support for the legislation’s passage, there should be no compromise with regard to minority participation in the plan’s implementation,” said Maria Kong, President of NAREB, the nation’s oldest minority trade association founded in 1947 to ensure equal housing for African-Americans and other disenfranchised minorities.
“Minority real estate and finance professionals are imminently qualified and poised to be part of the economic recovery. Urban and minority communities have been devastated by the economic downturn. And as importantly, minority professionals are part of these communities. As Secretary Paulson and Congress extol that transparency is key to the plan’s success and restoring public confidence in the nation’s financial system, the transparency in implementation must show that the expediency of the moment does not negate the inclusion of America’s minority professionals. Our businesses and our communities deserve the same opportunity for an economic turn-about as Wall Street does,” Ms. Kong concluded.
