Affordable Housing Leaders Support HBCUs as Pathways for Upward Mobility with Fundraiser at New York Football Classic

National affordable housing leaders and Morehouse College alumni raised scholarship funds during the inaugural HBCU New York Football Classic at MetLife Stadium to highlight the role of housing affordability in fostering educational success and upward mobility. The funds will cover housing costs and expenses associated with room and board for students in need.

With the Morehouse Maroon Tigers facing off against the Howard Bison down on the field, above in the owner’s suite affordable housing industry veterans Will Blodgett of Tredway, Sharif Mitchell of Dantes Community Partners, and John Gilmore of Walker & Dunlop hosted alumni representing both schools. Also present were Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard, Verdun Perry of Blackstone Strategic Partners, and Richard Roberts of Red Stone Equity Partners.

“I’m humbled to fundraise on behalf of Morehouse, an institution that has an enduring impact on all those who pass through its doors. By bringing together the affordable housing industry and HBCU alumni, we are continuing the tradition of social reformers and activists—like our namesake Alfred Tredway White— who’ve long recognized the important connection between historically Black institutions of higher education and high-quality, high-opportunity affordable housing,” said Will Blodgett, CEO & Founder of Tredway

“The brotherhood and bond I developed with my classmates and my respected relationship with Will created an opportunity to properly use our privilege to answer the call of responsibility and duty. My achievements are not solely my own. I stand on the shoulders of my brothers who came before me and fortify myself to support those that are on their way. I attribute a great deal of my professional privilege to Morehouse and what my classmates and I have been able to achieve together. I want to pay it forward, hence why I’m focused on fundraising for this impeccable institution,” said Sharif T. Mitchell, the Operating Principal of Dantes Community Partners.

“Morehouse College has prepared young men to change the world through leadership and service for over 150 years. The correlation between that call to leadership and service directly overlaps with the qualities needed to advance and preserve the nation’s affordable housing stock. It’s no wonder that like-minded individuals like Will, Sharif, and myself were able to bring people together to fellowship and raise scholarship funds that will help produce the future leaders that our industry desperately needs,” said John E. Gilmore, a Managing Director of Multifamily Finance at Walker & Dunlop.

For more images from the event, contact kelly@rivetpr.com.