Building Industry Leaders (BIL)

Our Mission

Building Industry Leaders (BIL) is a cooperative program between the Urban Land Institute Houston (ULI) and the Boys & Girls Clubs Greater Houston (BGC) to educate and mentor BGC high school students on the diverse career opportunities in commercial real estate and give them the professional skills to become industry leaders and contributing members of the community.

Program Overview

  • Students: High school students actively engaged in the BGC go through a rigorous application and interview process
  • Volunteers: ULI Young Leaders Group (YLG) members (Real Estate professionals under the age of 35)
  • Schedule: Nine-months split into two semesters (academic calendar)
  • Professions Represented: Architecture, Civil Engineering, Landscape Architecture, Construction, Design, Development, & Finance
  • Programming: Exposure to various professions in commercial real estate, and a hands-on project giving students experience working in these fields

Program Schedule

  • Expose teens to various disciplines in real estate development: architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, design, construction, and finance
  • Sessions held at offices of companies in those fields and real estate site visits
  • Volunteers mentor teens through a hands-on development project on a real site using all the skills taught in the fall.
  • Each team pitches its final project to a panel of industry executives to compete for scholarships.

Leadership Opportunities

Volunteers will have the opportunity to educate and mentor small groups of 4-5 BGC high school students on the diverse career opportunities in commercial real estate and provide them with the professional skills necessary to become industry leaders and contributing members of their community. Under the guidance of ULI Volunteers, BGC students will meet approximately twice a month for educational and/or work sessions, where they will work toward developing and eventually presenting a real estate related case-study project.

Ideal Volunteer Professions:

  • Architecture
  • Landscape Design
  • Civil engineering
  • Construction
  • Finance
  • Development

Time Commitment:

  • 4-5 hours per month of preparation and educational sessions with BGC students
  • 9 total sessions over the course of the Spring semester (January – May)

Let us know if you’re interested in volunteering for the program. Don’t forget to let us know your expertise and amount of time you can commit to the program.