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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Our values and Realtor® Code of Ethics demand social responsibility in pursuit of integrity and honor. We advocate for these higher goals at the local, state, and national government level and mobilize to ensure fair treatment for all people. We welcome you to take advantage of the following opportunities to learn more and get involved. Please join us in contributing to local community organizations. Together we will work toward a more just and safe community for everyone.

What We're Doing

MAR’s efforts include the following:

• Educating our members with offerings like the virtual CE class Racism in Real Estate 

• Engaging our members in racial equity issues through its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee

• Adopting a Statement of Inclusion and Non-Discrimination which broadens the protections to additional classes including sexual orientation.

• Supporting the Minnesota Homeownership Opportunity Alliance, which focuses on helping lower income households and communities of color achieve home ownership. 

• Promoting the work of Just Deeds Coalition, which provides free legal and title services to help property owners find discriminatory covenants and discharge them from their property titles. For more information, view our MAR-Just Deeds Flyer as well as our MAR-Just Deeds Talking Points.

• Advocating for passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968 which bans discrimination in the sale, renting and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, handicap or family status.

• Providing financial support for the Mapping Prejudice Project which is uncovering how racial covenants in home sales segregated neighborhoods across the Twin Cities.

Resources

Additional opportunities to learn more and become engaged in changing our systems and policies to ensure equity for all.

• Listen to Testing The Divide – A Conversation With Bill Dedman about the investigative report on discriminatory practices of REALTORS® in several communities in New York.

• Watch this documentary from Twin Cities Public Television: Jim Crow of the North – Full-Length Documentary

• TED: Help understand Racism in America

Just Mercy: Movie based on a true story of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, and from a book of the same name

13th: Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation’s prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.

White Fragility: Why It’s so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism – A sociologist examines the “white fragility” that prevents White Americans from confronting racism

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America is a nonfiction book on how American governments deliberately imposed racial segregation on metropolitan areas nationwide (New York Times Book Review).

How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi

Bias Override: Overcoming Barriers to Fair Housing is a video on Implicit Bias and an online test.

NAR Fair Housing Article: An overview of restrictive covenants and the Realtor role

Rebuilding for Racial Equality: Steps to Take Action is a video from 2020 NAR President, Vince Malta, addressing rebuilding grants and what brokers and agents can do now to help communities.

• REALTOR® Magazine – Taking Action to Make Your Business Anti-Racist: Brokers and association leaders mobilize to address racial injustices in communities around America.

• ACLU: The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the Constitution’s promise of liberty for everyone in our country.

• NAACP: Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.

Donate Goods or Funds

Minorities are disproportionately affected by homelessness and the Minneapolis Area REALTORS® has been supporting local organizations in their housing work for more than three decades. Since 1988 the MAR Foundation has been supporting housing and housing-related needs in Minneapolis and other cities in MAR’s service region of Hennepin, Carver, Scott, Sibley and McLeod Counties. To date, the Foundation has distributed more than $1 million to non-profits that provide housing assistance to the most vulnerable in our communities.

Last spring the Foundation took the extra step to provide $40,000 in grants to eight local non-profits that experienced a surge in demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Foundation is currently assessing additional ways to respond to the affordable housing crisis in the Twin Cities.

See below for additional opportunities to donate to non-profits that are assisting in the recovery and rebuilding effort.

Hunger Solutions: Map of where to give and get food.

Mpls St. Paul Article: Where to Support Black-Owned Businesses in the Twin Cities

United Way: Supports 211, a free and confidential service that helps people across North America find the local resources they need 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Asian Economic Development Association: One hundred percent of the donations we receive from GoFundMe will be granted to the businesses with the most need. AEDA will provide additional support to the businesses with technical assistance.


Minneapolis Foundation: Fund for Safe Communities will support efforts to address systemic inequities and translate community anger into actions that repair the city

Longfellow/Seward Healthy Seniors Program: Raising money to support local seniors

The Lake Street Council: Collecting funds for local businesses along Lake Street in Minneapolis

Ujamaa Place: A culturally-centric organization focusing on African American men who are working to overcome multiple barriers to stability assisting them in becoming productive members of society.

NAR's Fair Housing Resources

FAIRHAVEN: A FAIR HOUSING SIMULATION

A training platform designed to help combat discrimination in America’s real estate market – made available at no cost to real estate professionals throughout the country, Fairhaven is an immersive simulation where agents work against the clock to close four deals, confronting various scenarios where discrimination enters into the transaction. The training also provides customized feedback to help real estate professionals incorporate fair housing principles in their daily interactions.

Fairhaven comes as part of NAR’s ACT! Initiative, the association’s fair housing action plan that emphasizes Accountability, Culture Change and Training to promote equal opportunity in real estate. Access the simulation training here.

FAIR HOUSING TRAINING VIDEO

Providing equal service to all is the basic tenet of federal fair housing law and part of NAR’s Code of Ethics. NAR’s fair housing training video is available as a free download to all associations and members. Ensure your service is fair and legal. Available for free through NAR.

BIAS OVERRIDE: OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO FAIR HOUSING VIDEO

The mind science experts at the Perception Institute present an online workshop to help members avoid implicit bias in their daily business interactions. Drawing upon the latest evidence-based research, Perception explains how our brains’ automatic, instant association of stereotypes with particular groups can cause us to treat those who are different from us unfairly, despite our best intentions and often without our conscious awareness. Perception then applies these concepts to the everyday work of REALTORS®, and offers strategies to override bias in order to convey respect, ensure fairness, and improve business relationships. Access the online training video.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® FAIR HOUSING FIELD GUIDE

The NAR Fair Housing Program includes the latest Fair Housing News, free fair housing products, useful links and the REALTOR® Fair Housing Declaration.

FAIR HOUSING ASSETS

REALTORS® are committed to creating fair housing opportunities for everyone. Be a champion for fair housing by sharing NAR’s social media materials.

Either click here to access the assets or personalize the materials in the Photofy app. To download the app:

  1. Visit photofy.com/nar.
  2. At the bottom of the page, fill out the information under “Get Started with Photofy Today.” You will need your NRDS ID number for this!
  3. Open the email from Photofy and download the app on your device.
  4. Once the app is downloaded, open it. Click “Business Sign In” on the homepage and log in with your information, including your username and password.
  5. You should be directed to the NAR member screen. If you are not, tap “NAR Member” at the bottom of the screen to switch views.
  6. Click the template option to add a photo or logo to and share. Logos or photos can be taken from your device’s photos, your social channels or your Dropbox.