Black History Month


Honoring Our Industry’s Diversity This Black History Month

February is Black History Month!
Each year, we celebrate Black History Month as it allows us to reflect, acknowledge and honor the significant contributions of professionals and pioneers who have shaped our association and industry. This month also serves as a time to highlight the ongoing efforts required to address disparities, address the state of Black homeownership report, share fun things to do around the city, and more!

Our Local History

1963: Eleanor Foreman was the first black member of the Association, formerly known as the Louisville Board of REALTORS®.

A Message from 2024 GLAR President Carter Martin, Jr.

Our Industry Trailblazers

Meet our Leaders, Directors, Committee Chairs & Vice Chairs

The State of Black Homeownership

Learn more about the state of Black homeownership and disparities in homeownership rate compared to other races in the 2023 NAREB State of Housing in Black America (SHIBA) Report. 

The National Association of REALTORS® Snapshot of Race and Home Buying in America released in 2023 shows:

  • The national Black homeownership rate in the U.S. is 44%
  • The Black homeownership rate is 40% in Kentucky
  • 21% of Black homeowners spend more than 30% of their income on housing in Kentucky
  • 24% of Black renter households can afford to buy the typical home
  • 17% of Black Americans are denied home financing in Kentucky
  • Median household income for Black/African Americans in the U.S is $80,000
  • 17% of Black/African-Americans purchased multigenerational homes
  • 27% of single women homebuyers are Black

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What are the Barriers to Homeownership for Black Individuals?

The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB’s) recognizes that significant actions must be taken to genuinely offer Black Americans fair access to the American Dream of homeownership, including:

  • Eliminating loan level price adjusters
  • Eliminating penalty fees for borrowers to access downpayment assistance
  • Recalculating the impact of student loan debt
  • Leveraging special purpose credit programs
  • Ending Discriminatory and Abusive Appraisal Practices
  • Fixing the broken and out-of-date housing finance system

Impacting Change

The National Association of REALTORS ® is working with the Black Homeownership Collaborative on a 7-point plan to create 3 million net new Black homeowners by 2030. 

This plan identifies a set of seven tangible, actionable and scalable steps that will make it possible to increase Black homeownership by 3 million net new homeowners by 2030; an increase of more than 10 percentage points in the Black homeownership rate, bringing it to a level never previously attained. From there, new strategies will be developed to close the racial homeownership gap completely.

The 7-point steps are focused not only on bringing in new homeowners but also sustaining existing homeowners. They are complementary and need to be worked on simultaneously in order to increase their effectiveness.

Exciting Ways to Commemorate & Celebrate the Month Around the City

Educational Opportunities

WATCH: Long Island Divided
Full series of Long Island Divided as well as the documentary film version, Testing the Divided.

WATCH: History of Redlining in Louisville with John Borders

Fairhaven: A Fair Housing Simulation

NARs Bias Override Training
This course helps real estate professionals interrupt stereotypical thinking so they can avoid fair housing pitfalls and provide equal professional service to every customer or client.

At Home With Diversity Certification Class for REALTORS
NAR’s At Home With Diversity course offers information about conducting business in culturally competent ways. It includes updated statistics, fair housing laws, business plan development, business etiquette and more.

Spotify Playlist


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Get To Know Our Industry Partner, NAREB Louisville

NAREB Louisville Realtist is a leading professional organization dedicated to advancing the interests of real estate professionals and promoting sustainable homeownership within our communities. Their mission is to unite minority professionals in the real estate industry, working towards fair and equitable practices that empower and increase the number of minority individuals and families who own homes and to create pathways for sustainable wealth-building through real estate investment.

NAREB (National Association of Real Estate Brokers) is the oldest premier professional organization of black real estate professionals in the United States and has been at the forefront of advocating for fair housing, equal access to credit, and economic empowerment for black Americans for over 70 years. We are an association proud of our past, relentless in our struggle, and 100% dedicated to the REALTIST creed- Democracy in Housing.