2024 WE Build Program Application

The Women Empowered to Build (WE Build) program was created to accelerate the fundability, stability and growth of the women-led businesses and women-led nonprofit organizations in real estate development. This initiative, developed by Cinnaire and The Women’s Sustainable Development Initiative (WSDI), is committed to helping women developers forge a new path in their communities, fostering local wealth building and inclusive economic opportunities, by cultivating collective resources. The program accomplishes this by:

• leveraging the expertise of the dynamic local industry leaders in real estate development
• providing a practical approach based upon a real-world curriculum.

We Build is an 11-month intensive training program designed to assist participants with completing pre-development activities and preparing them to apply for project financing. The program includes live and virtual interactive courses, group learning experiences, site visits and ongoing mentor support. Training topics include understanding local real estate trends, assessing the suitability of a property for development, and evaluating micro and macro factors affecting the market. Participants will have the opportunity to receive up to $50,000 recoverable grant funds to support their work in the program.

Eligibility Criteria:

To be eligible for participation, attendees must:

• Be affiliated with a woman-owned, real estate development business or
  woman-led nonprofit
• Have at least two years of commercial real estate or business experience
• Have site control of an active housing development project
• Demonstrate a commitment to responsible and sustainable real estate
  development with a development project or development business

Program Commitment:

• Commit to in-person training for up to (6) hours once per month and virtual technical assistance for up to (2) hours twice per month during the program term
• Commit to a minimum of (1) active site visit during the program term
• Attend 90% or more of in-person and virtual programming to successfully meet the program requirements
• Submit an application for a recoverable grant up to $50,000 for pre-development activities by 1/31/2024
• Commit to continuing real estate development project funding with Cinnaire

Calendar:

All participants are required to attend programming in-person on the following dates: