Developer Don Peebles in 2024.
Photographer: Ivan Apfel/Getty Images
It’s a Tough Time To Be a Black Real Estate Developer
The Trump administration’s campaign against diversity programs is just one more challenge for Black developers working in lower-income communities.
Real estate developer Diarra McKinney was initially wary of the “racial reckoning” that swept the US after George Floyd was killed in 2020. Talk at the time was of antiracism and structural change, but McKinney, who is Black, worried that the moment would be fleeting.
Still, as programs sprang up to assist developers of color and financial institutions pledged funding for Black entrepreneurs, he decided to dive in.