MatchBridge Interns Receive Valuable Mentoring

BRE Properties Named MatchBridge Employer of the Month

July 20, 2010 By Olu Johnson Leave a Comment

Strong support for programs like RE4TA is why BRE Properties was recently named Spirit of the Bay award winners

For the last three years, MatchBridge has teamed up with the real estate industry to offer the youth they serve an leg up in finding positions within the industry. The program is called Real Estate 4 Tomorrow’s Adults (RE4TA) and is a partnership between MatchBridge, United Way of the Bay Area, and the San Francisco Real Estate sector.

While RE4TA has created many outstanding partnerships for MatchBridge, one company has stood out in its dedication to the community and youth employment. Year after year, BRE Properties has gone above and beyond for the RE4TA initiative. This is why they are MatchBridge’s employer of the month!

In its first year, Connie Moore, BRE Properties’ CEO, stepped up to head the Founders’ Circle, comprised of many prestigious firms including: AMB Property Corp., BRE Properties, Cushman & Wakefield, Sares Regis Group, Sunset Development, TMG Partners, Webcor Builders and UDR Inc. Since then, Connie has provided steady leadership, spoken on behalf of the program on numerous occasions, and has gone above and beyond behind-the-scenes to support the MatchBridge program at every opportunity.

Throughout the years, BRE Properties has broken the record for creating the most placements for young jobseekers interested in the industry. BRE’s aggressive approach to creating opportunities for young jobseekers truly exemplifies the concept of building up the workforce of tomorrow.

In the past, Connie Moore has even personally come in with a team of managers to lead RE4TA seminars to help guide and instruct the interns as they start their careers.

This summer, 36 internships were provided by MatchBridge’s RE4TA program, five of them with BRE Properties. During their term, interns have the opportunity to look further into real-estate specific roles like property management and residential sales or they can choose to sign onto more general departments like marketing, office management, and outside sales.

RE4TA, and the experiences of its participants, would not be possible without the continuing dedication and support of companies like BRE Properties. MatchBridge thanks all of the volunteers, companies, and interns for taking part in this year’s program and investing in tomorrow’s workforce.

Filed Under: Income, Pathways out of Poverty, United Way Partners Tagged With: employment, Income, real estate, United Way Partners, youth

Get A Job- MatchBridge Summer Hiring Series

May 19, 2010 By Ed Oh Leave a Comment

With the approach of summer, the team at MatchBridge has been very busy placing youth in various kinds of internships and jobs. Last week MatchBridge teamned up with Ghirardelli Chocolate Company to interview 14 candidates to shore up their concessions operations at AT&T Ballpark. After the interviews and a little deliberation, the team from Ghirardelli decided to hire all 14 candidates. The hiring manager was “so impressed with the talents that you brought in, that we decided to extend an invitation for all of them to work with us.”

The success with Ghirardelli did not stop there. After a couple weeks, they found themselves needing a few more hands on deck and came back for a second round of hiring. After the second round, they emerged with another four hires.

Also, The Galileo Learning Camp, the Girl Scouts Camp, and the Golden Gate Parks Conservancy Program partnered with MatchBridge youth members on exciting opportunities to get outdoors, protect the environment, and work as seasonal camp counselors. So far nine youth have been invited back for interviews, and one youth has been hired as a Team Leader.

Lastly, the third summer of our Real Estate 4 Tomorrow’s Adults program is about to begin and it’s looking to be the best summer yet. The initiative was created when United Way partnered with Bay Area real estate executives and MatchBridge, to create new pathways to employment. This year’s goal is to place 35-40 MatchBridge youth into RE4TA summer internships. After our two RE4TA Intern informationals, 30 interns have been recruited and are ready to work for the summer.

If you happen to be a real estate employer and are looking for an intern for the summer (at no cost to you) please contact Amy Thole at (415) 808-4434.

(photo via flickr user fragglerawker)

Filed Under: Road to Recovery Tagged With: employment, inceom, MatchBridge, real estate, United Way Partners

MatchBridge Interns Receive Valuable Mentoring

August 26, 2009 By Olu Johnson Leave a Comment

BRE Properties', President and CEO, Connie Moore spoke to the interns about “Careers In Real Estate.”

Real Estate 4 Tomorrow’s Adults is a partnership between MatchBridge, United Way of the Bay Area, and the San Francisco Real Estate sector to provide paid internship opportunities to young men and women interested in real estate careers.

This summer, 26 interns worked at various San Francisco property and real estate companies. The young people also had the opportunity to attend seminars tailored to give them the initial skills they need to start their careers. The seminars taught entry level job skills pushed them to realize their goals, and helped them to facilitate a plan of action.

Professionals from the business community volunteered to lead each seminar based on their own work experiences. United Way of the Bay Area’s Rebecca Riley and Kim Pham spoke about the power of networking, while Hank Ramirez of Wardrobe for Opportunity, showed the youth how to create a professional image. This volunteer-driven nonprofit provides professional clothing and career support to low-income job-seekers in the Bay Area which enables them to become economically self-sufficient.

Another speaker, BRE Properties’ President and CEO, Connie Moore along with colleagues Michael McKann and Sheryl McKibben spoke about careers in the real estate sector. Connie Moore is part of the Founders Circle that helped create Real Estate 4 Tomorrow’s Adults.

And finally, Wells Fargo’s Gregory Michail finished off the seminars by teaching the interns the values of budgeting and financial planning.

United Way and MatchBridge thank all of the volunteers, companies, and interns for taking part in this year’s program and investing in tomorrow’s workforce.