The "Sky's the Limit" Program, designed and facilitated by Sasha Corporation,  is designed to  attract and keep minorities in the real estate sales industry and to increase homeownership opportunities in the Cincinnati area, said Annette Chmiel, the Board's director of education.

"We have never given up on the idea that we need more minorities in the real estate profession," Chmiel said. "We also see a potential for homeownership that hasn’t been tapped in this area, and we believe that with more minorities in real estate we would be better able to tap that potential market."

 The year-long Sky's the Limit program includes 12 training and retraining sessions for new minority real estate agents. Chmiel said. "We think we can accomplish something with the program, and that is getting more minority agents."

Area real estate brokerage firms are also supporting the program, backed by the Board's  investment. Many are paying the program's cost for their agents.

President Kathleen Overstreet said the Board "is making a great effort to make the program work. The Board is making an attempt to mirror the general population by trying to recruit and retain minority agents. It's a very proactive approach. We're just starting the first classes now. Those  people in the classes are going to spread the word to workers and co-workers about the business. We certainly hope it works so other Boards can take advantage of our experience."

For years the real estate industry has been attempting to recruit and retain more minority agents while at the same time increasing housing opportunities for minorities.

"We've tried many ways--scholarships, career nights, mentoring programs with Cincinnati State --none of which really gained us significant results." she said. "We didn't want to give up so we finally agreed we needed some professional help."

So the Board turned to a consulting firm specialized in employee  retention, experienced in  working with minorities, Sasha Corporation of Cincinnati. The firms worked together on devising and implementing the Board's training sessions. Chmiel says: "Our committees worked on this  for years without much success. We started working with Sasha,  and they designed  and developed exactly  the program we had been looking for. We are delighted."