Kimberly Driggins

Each year the Youth in Real Estate event pays tribute to industry leaders, developers, and architects committed to strengthening the community by making significant contributions to youth and to Boys & Girls Clubs in the greater Washington region. Their support is especially important today, as youth and families struggle due to pandemic impacts.

Meet honoree Kimberly Driggins, Executive Director at the Washington Housing Conservancy!


What is the best thing about your current job?

While our communities face such unprecedented health, economic, and community challenges, it’s the right time to look to a future when affordable housing is no longer a scarce resource. I’m delighted to be at the forefront of the Washington Housing Conservancy’s groundbreaking effort to disrupt real estate market forces that displace residents. By fusing commercial real estate expertise and capital with a social impact mission, we are preserving housing that is affordable and creating the kind of stability that lets individuals and families concentrate on building wealth and other opportunities, instead of the peril of escalating rents.


What has been your proudest career moment?

Returning to the nation’s capital to lead the Washington Housing Conservancy represents a long-sought and exciting pinnacle in my career. It’s a dream position that lets me build on my work as a place-maker, invest in more connected communities, and create a groundbreaking and innovative model that will help solve a nationwide challenge around displacement and housing affordability.


What was your reaction to hearing that you would be a BGCGW Youth in Real Estate Honoree this year?

I’m so honored to have been acknowledged by BGCGW during a year when the life-changing work of both our organizations could not be more important. It’s a time when young people truly need our support to meet the health and safety challenges of COVID-19 and the anguish and unrest over racial disparity. I’m humbled to be included among the 2020 honorees who are doing so much to help the youngest among us achieve and succeed.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of giving back to BGCGW?

I’m thrilled to have the chance to advocate for BGCGW, whose mission is so closely aligned with that of the Washington Housing Conservancy. We both support young people and their families, as we work to disrupt a system that favors zip codes over possibilities and barriers to success over bridges to a brighter future. And in this time of so many challenges, I believe in our intersecting principles to advance racial equity and inclusion, strive for universal quality, and promote trust and respect.

One piece of advice for youth interested in the commercial real estate industry?

Commercial real estate offers a tremendous opportunity for personal growth that can also be in service of something deeper and more meaningful, that is, fostering change within our communities. When you team up on both commercial and community interests, young professionals in the industry can find new ways to enhance community connections, create new opportunities for others, and build wealth in underserved neighborhoods. It’s a great profession to exercise both people skills and technical aptitude and tap the extraordinary breadth of diverse professions for individual achievement and the growth that lets you continue to give back.

 

Continued support for BGCGW youth is truly vital for our members. It is because of people like our honorees, sponsoring companies, and generous donors like you that make this life-changing work possible.

To learn more about the event, sponsoring, or buying tickets, please visit our website – see you on November 12!