| MAR Members Receive Fair Housing Awards |
REALTOR® Focus : Joyce Ann Beverly & NOCBOR Cultural Diversity Committee
MAR would like to congratulate The Cultural Diversity Committee of the North Oakland County Board of REALTORS®, Joyce Ann Beverly, a real estate agent since 1985 and principal of Joyce, Inc. who were the recipients of the Fair Housing Center’s 2009 Fair Housing Leadership Awards at the Awards Reception on September 24, 2009. The Reception was held at The Renaissance Club located on the 36th floor of the 200 Tower at the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit.
The recipients of the 2009 Award continue FHC-Detroit’s purpose in hosting the Receptions: to recognize and honor those persons or firms in the housing industry that have taken concrete and effective actions to further fair and equal housing opportunities in the metropolitan Detroit area. Since the awards were initiated in the 1998 FHC-Detroit has honored 33 individuals and 4 firms for their fair housing actions. The following describes some of the actions that prompted FHC-Detroit to select this year’s award recipients.
Pat Jacobs has been the Executive Director of the North Oakland Board of Realtors since August, 1981, and has been responsible for helping to develop the membership and the activities for the Cultural Diversity Committee. Among those activities have been: the implementation of a self-testing program involving members of the North Oakland Board; the development of “Taking a Walk In My Shoes”, a training program for the housing industry on difficulties faced by persons with physical and mental disabilities in their search for housing; conduct of numerous fair housing programs for real estate professionals, including mandatory fair housing training in 2005 and 2006 for over 2,000 member of the Board. The Annual Fair Housing Month (April) Lunches sponsored by the committee have included foods from a wide variety of cultures and national origins.
“Fair Housing” and Joyce Ann Beverly have been synonymous during her 24+ years as a real estate professional and member of the Detroit Board of Realtors. During that time she has been a member of the chaired the Fair Housing Committee of the Detroit Board; a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Equal Opportunity and Cultural Diversity Committee, and assisted NAR develop its “At Home With Diversity- One America” program; and she has been the Director of the Southeast Michigan Coalition for Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity, helping to plan and organize Fair Housing Month (April) training sessions for real estate professionals in Southeast Michigan. Ms. Beverly has consistently used the information and resources of the Fair Housing Center to help convey the message about fair housing to other real estate professionals.
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