I'm sure you've already heard the very important news: ABC announced the new bachelor!

"Why should we care about a reality show?" you might correctly ask. In the middle of a global pandemic, economic turmoil, widespread protests and Pilot Pete's train wreck of a season as the bachelor (seriously, he broke up with Madison only to take her back but then let his mom berate her on national TV?), who's even paying attention to pop culture right now?

(Besides me, of course, who constantly writes about it as a metaphor for property management.)

But this season is monumental. ABC announced that the next Bachelor will be Matt James. He's to be the first black bachelor in the show's 18-year history. (And he's also a commercial real estate broker!) 

It's the first, small, step towards inclusion on the show. 

Diversity is a crucial issue in the apartment industry as well, of course. So important that organizations such as NMHC have initiatives to help promote diversity in multifamily. We know that different voices are important. Our renters are not homogeneous, so our leadership can not be either. And we have certainly made some strides.

Yet, there is still a lot of work to be done. According to the Real Estate Associate Program (REAP), there is "less than 1 percent minority (employees) at management levels—less than 1,000 people of color in an industry with over 125,000 professionals."

Read the full blog.