In Hartford, there’s a new training program to turn some city residents of color into real estate developers.
In the city’s effort to reduce the number of blighted properties, the Hartford Land Bank is recruiting applicants for a real estate development training corps, a two-week intensive training program where participants will learn the business of property development and then gain access to buy homes from the Land Bank.
“It’s building wealth right here in our communities through the redevelopment of our neighborhoods,” said Arunan Arulampalam, CEO of the Hartford Land Bank.
A group of 15 to 20 applicants will be selected for the two-week intensive training set for December. They’ll learn about financing, building plans and more, and then get access to properties on the land, bankroll and capital to actually do it all.
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The Hartford Community Loan Fund has committed a million dollars to provide low-interest construction loans to program participants
The program is seeking applicants with some background in construction or a business understanding to function as project managers.
Menard “Tex” Sampson is renovating his fifth property in Hartford, a three-family on Earl Street that he’ll eventually rent to tenants. He purchased it from the Land Bank and hopes more city residents will take advantage of the benefits of the program to learn the business of development.
“It's like a piece of art for me. You turn something that nobody wants, they can't see value in it and then you turn it around and everybody is like this is beautiful. There's a lot of freedom you get from doing real estate and developing properties.”
You can apply to the program here: HartfordLandBank.org.
