Cedric Bobo discusses a recent program for black student athletes to enter the industrial real estate market.
Diana Olick | CNBC
When Darius Livingston graduated from the University of California, Davis two years ago, he knew his football profession was over. Like most of his former teammates—and most college athletes—he didn’t turn pro.
As an alternative, Livingston moved into industrial real estate due to lessons learned from a paid internship program that teaches young students of color the fundamentals of finance, with a concentrate on real estate investing.
Project Destined is a social impact platform founded by former Carlyle Group CEO Cedric Bobo.
Bobo made a reputation for himself in real estate investing after which decided to pay it off further. In 2016, it launched a financial program primarily for prime school students. He then prolonged it to universities, seeing opportunities for each internships and jobs before and after graduation.
Desperate to diversify their workforce, among the world’s largest real estate, finance and management companies have contracted to fund internships and mentor students. This includes names like Boston propertiesGray Star, Brookfield, CBRE, Ownership apartmentfifth wall, JLLSkanska, Vornado and Walker & Dunlop.
This system has trained over 5,000 participants from over 350 universities world wide and established partnerships with over 250 real estate companies.
And now he’s targeting a few of his efforts specifically at black student athletes.
Following a recent pilot program with UC Davis student athletes, Bobo announced a partnership with Black Student-Athlete Summit, an expert and academic advocacy organization, to supply paid virtual internships to 100 student athletes from nine Division I schools. Includes 25 hours of coaching.
“Program participants may also join executives to rate real-time industrial real estate deals of their community and compete in competitions with industry leaders,” in line with the announcement announcing the partnership. “The internship includes scholarship and networking opportunities.”
Livingston went through the UC Davis pilot program in his last semester of faculty, then accomplished internships at Eastdil and Eden Housing. He’s currently an acquisitions and development associate at Catalyst Housing Group, a California real estate development company, and financial backer of the brand new partnership.
![Why ex-black student athletes are turning to commercial real estate](https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107247486-6ED2-REQ-Interview-052623-v2_mezz.jpg?v=1685132319&w=750&h=422&vtcrop=y)
“I feel for me it was really a realization that I probably would not be a first-round draft pick, and that is okay,” Livingston explained. “It’s really exposure to other possibilities. That is why I’m so blessed that Project Destined got here along and showed me the industrial real estate industry and the mindset I need to be an owner within the communities where I live.”
This ownership has long been Bobo’s mantra and was at the guts of his presentation as he announced the brand new a part of his program to a whole bunch of scholars at USC’s Black Student-Athletes Summit. He wants them to know that they’ll make a difference of their neighborhoods by owning and managing real estate. More importantly, he wants them to know that ownership is feasible.
“Our show is not just about how we see you all,” Bobo said of the real estate executives who attended the announcement. “That is the way you see yourself.”
While the graduation rate of black student-athletes is slowly improving, many students who’ve been showered with resources at school struggle once they finish their athletic endeavors and enter the workforce.
“Lots of these kids might think they seem to be a first-round draft pick and that is percent percent percent percent percent so it’s really true to yourself and knowing you deserve so way more than what we’re just exposed to and it’s only a sport,” said Livingston.
Financial support for this system comes from real estate companies including BGO, Brookfield, Catalyst Housing Group, Dune Real Estate Partners, Jemcor Development Partners, Landspire Group, Marcus & Millichap, Virtu Investments and The Vistria Group.
“The expansion of this platform is a natural evolution of this collaborative effort and can provide tangible pathways for hundreds of black student athletes to pursue future careers in industrial real estate,” said Jordan Moss, who can be a former student athlete at UC Davis and founder and CEO of Catalyst.
Project Destined also works with the NBA and WNBA to offer skilled athletes more opportunities after their sports careers end.
Livingston said he believes athletes are one of the best staff.
“We play to win,” he explained. “It is a competitive character. We would like to work through our capabilities.”