REALTORS® support urban sustainability program
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Contact:
Celina Owen, Real Estate Foundation of BC, 604.688.6800 ext. 103, cowen@realestatefoundation.com
Laurie Dawson, Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, 604.930.7657, laurie.dawson@fvreb.bc.ca
Erica Branda, SFU Advancement, 604.291.3353/778.231.1274, ebranda@sfu.ca
Terry Lavender, SFU Public Affairs & Media Relations, 778.782.7408, terry_lavender@sfu.ca
The Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia and the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board have created an endowment fund with $500,000 capital to support a new Initiative in Urban Sustainability and Development program at SFU’s new Surrey campus. The university’s Urban Studies Program in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences will coordinate the new initiative.
Through a combination of lectures, research and graduate-student funding, the program will promote interest in, and support research to develop, new strategies for the use and conservation of land. The program will also foster improved community wellbeing in the Fraser Valley. It will explore the environmental, social and economic impacts of topics such as expansion of urban and suburban development, conversion of lands from one use to another and migration patterns.
"Our mission is to support sustainable real estate and land use practices throughout the province,” says Charles Northrup, Chair of the Real Estate Foundation of BC. “This funding will help to educate the public and professionals about development and conservation issues, both of which are important in the quickly growing Fraser Valley region. Our positive experience as a supporter of The City Program at SFU Harbour Centre tells us that SFU is capable of delivering programs that respond to what is really going on in the community."
“For years, the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board and its member REALTORS® have lobbied to gain a full post-graduate and research university south of the Fraser River,” says board president David Rishel. "Our young people need and deserve greater access locally to higher education and we couldn't be prouder to have contributed to that goal.
The Fraser Valley Board's donation of $100,000 is one of the largest and most significant donations we have ever made to the community. Combined with $400,000 from the Real Estate Foundation of BC, the endowment will have a profound impact on land development and conservation in the Fraser Valley.”
To acknowledge this gift and the important role that realtors play in supporting the community, plans are afoot to name the library at SFU Surrey The Fraser Valley REALTOR® Library.
Says SFU president Michael Stevenson, “This is just another great example of business working together with SFU to meet the needs of the community.”
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