Recognizing a lack of participation by people of color in the commercial real estate industry and seeking to provide a new pathway to change that, Dr. Mark Eppli and Marquette University created the Associates in Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) program in 2004. ACRE is a 26-week program designed to train people of color for careers in real estate development and related fields through classroom instruction, project-based learning, and networking with peers and industry professionals.
Twenty years later, ACRE is now administered by LISC Milwaukee (the local office of the national nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corporation) and – in addition to Marquette – includes the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UWM) as academic partners. More than 300 individuals have completed ACRE to date, including several elected officials and prominent development and civic leaders. These milestones present an opportunity to reflect on the contributions the program has made in the community, assess its strengths and weaknesses, and consider opportunities to improve it for future cohorts.
To that end, we aim to shed light on the following key research questions in this report:
- How has the ACRE program contributed to the careers and lives of its graduates?
- To what extent have ACRE graduates pursued work in metro Milwaukee’s real estate industry, and how and to what degree has the program benefited that industry and the broader local economy and community?
- If program graduates are not working in real estate or related fields, what are the primary reasons? What careers have they pursued, and has ACRE been valuable to their work?
- Where do ACRE graduates and stakeholders see opportunities for program enhancement, and what can its supporters learn from similar programs in other communities nationally?
To help answer these questions, we collected and analyzed both quantitative and qualitative information from program participants and other stakeholders. This included a web-based survey of ACRE alumni, which generated 56 responses, and 25 interviews with program graduates, instructors, supporters, and other leaders in metro Milwaukee’s real estate industry. For additional context, we also explored four similar programs in other U.S. cities to identify possible program improvements.
In completing this assessment, one notable challenge was that the ACRE program has evolved over time, with its curriculum, instructors, and activities shifting somewhat from year to year and to a greater extent over the program’s 20-year history. We considered this in interpreting the stakeholder input we received and in developing our key findings.
LISC Milwaukee recently announced a return to annual ACRE programming after several years of offering the class every other year. In addition, with interest in ACRE growing beyond Milwaukee, a number of seats in the program are now being reserved for Madison participants for the first time. We hope this report will provide ACRE’s leaders, alumni, and stakeholders with valuable insight as they contemplate ways to strengthen and further expand the program in the coming years.