Project Destined is an organization focused on providing education and access to the commercial real estate industry for minority students. Programs are targeted towards high school and college students, with the goal of introducing real estate ownership to people who may not have previously studied or worked in the commercial real estate industry. Yardi Matrix has provided 10 complimentary education licenses to Project Destined for use in their curriculum and internship programs. Students will have full access to Yardi Matrix’ industry-leading data and analysis to use when researching, underwriting and presenting potential deals to their teachers, industry mentors and competition judges. Chris Nebenzahl, editorial director for Yardi Matrix, has been actively involved with Project Destined. “I have been volunteering to teach the market research segment of the curriculum and offer guidance for how students can use Yardi Matrix with the projects they are working on,” said Nebenzahl. “I focus on our data at the property, submarket and market level. The students are tasked with creating an investor presentation and pitching their deal to a panel of industry judges. Through the process, they need to provide valuation models, market research, forecasts, and cash flow models, all of which can be developed and leveraged by using Yardi Matrix data.” Nebenzahl began working with Project Destined in early 2020 and has lectured virtually at each session held by the organization since then. Project Destined was started by entrepreneur Cedric Bobo to expand opportunities for minority students within the commercial real estate field and to encourage his students to become owners and community stakeholders in the cities where they live. Project Destined started 5 years ago and has grown significantly to include students in many major markets around the country. Bobo, who grew up in Memphis, was fascinated...