--Boston: Sale of State Street Financial Center---
Representing the Kingston Bedford Joint Venture, developers Paul Chan, Kenneth Guscott and John B. Hynes III, celebrate the recent sale of the State Street Financial Center at One Lincoln Street in Downtown Boston. With the sale of the 36-story office tower for $705 million, One Lincoln becomes the largest real estate deal in Massachusetts and the third largest in the nation. The development created by Venture partners -- Columbia Plaza Associates (CPA), the Gale Company, Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds, and State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio has an even greater significance in U.S. history. It is the largest real estate project in America developed by minority investors. Columbia Plaza is a Boston-based group of African-American, Chinese- American and Hispanic investors who were the original developers of the project. Their determination to form a minority investors group and build in the downtown business district dates back to 1986. The record setting sale culminates their personal odyssey to add a building to Boston's Financial District skyline. "We are so proud to be a part of this historic deal," said Paul Chan, leader of the 25-member Chinese Investment Group. "It was so important for us to contribute financial resources, design development input and community participation, especially in a building that is located at the gateway to Chinatown." Ken Guscott co-chairs CPA with Chan and also led the Ruggles Bedford African-American investors' group who first conceived of the idea of building downtown. The individuals and owners of private businesses in this initial group include Boston's black-owned bank, One United. Guscott says all the original investors are committed to passing on some of the proceeds from the One Lincoln sale to their community. "Eighteen years ago when we first convinced the original twelve African-Americans investors to develop this building, we pledged to make a viable business deal that would strengthen minority communities in Boston." Prior to the sale, the project generated $16 million dollars in linkage and community development contributions to Chinatown and Roxbury, Boston's black community. In addition, CPA has pledged to share 10% of its net profits (more than $4 million) with nonprofit organizations. The funds will have an immediate positive impact on these cash strapped agencies. Now that the sale of One Lincoln is complete, CPA can celebrate with all of its partners, including the Gale Company who was hired in 1999 to acquire additional equity investors and supervise construction, management and sale of the building. John Hynes, a managing partner and principle of the Gale Company, attributes the success of the building project and sale to a tenacious group of real estate and financial professionals. For photo, please go to unityfirst.com

---Diversity in Financial Planning---
ING U.S. Financial Services, Texas Tech University and Prairie View A&M University recently announced the launch of the ING Alliance for Diversity in Financial Planning. The alliance is designed to promote higher education opportunities for multi-ethnic and multi-cultural groups in the area of financial planning and also to increase representation of these groups in the financial planning profession. The ING Alliance for Diversity in Financial Planning will leverage the resources and financial planning expertise of ING, Texas Tech University and Prairie View A&M University to provide new opportunities for advanced financial planning education especially at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Currently, only one of the 89 four-year HBCUs has a Certified Financial Planner Board registered certificate program available to its students. According to the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board) less than two percent of CFP(R) are of ethnic diversity, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau (Selected Years from 1990-2000), the ethnic population will comprise more than 40 percent of the U.S. population by 2050.

---Hispanic Real Estate professionals----
Moises "Moe" Vela Jr., former senior advisor of Hispanic affairs to former Vice President Al Gore, has been named chief operating officer and director of marketing of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP). Vela will mobilize the 14,000-member, non-profit trade organization and lead an expansion from its national headquarters in San Diego. Based in San Diego, NAHREP is a non-profit trade organization with a membership of 14,000 real estate and mortgage professionals. Founded in 1999 by veteran practitioners Gary Acosta and Ernest Reyes, the organization is dedicated to increasing the rate of homeownership in the underserved Hispanic community.

---African American women in business---
Catalyst, a research and advisory organization working to advance women in business, recently released a report focused exclusively on the unique challenges faced by African-American women in business. The report, "Advancing African-American Women in the Workplace: What Managers Need to Know" reveals that many African-American women in corporate America continue to face a "concrete ceiling" as they work toward career advancement. African-American women represent an important and growing source of talent, yet they currently represent only 1.1 percent of corporate officers in Fortune 500 companies, a mere 106 African-American women out of a group of 10,092 corporate officers. Barriers facing African-American women in business include negative, race-based stereotypes; more frequent questioning of their credibility and authority; and a lack of institutional support. Experiencing a "double outsider" status -- unlike white women or African-American men, who share gender or race in common with most colleagues or managers-African-American women report exclusion from informal networks, and conflicted relationships with white women, among the challenges they face. The historical legacy of slavery, legally enforced racial segregation, and discrimination based on skin color make race a particularly difficult topic for discussion in the workplace. Many women in the study report making discussions of race off-limits.

---Send your news, events and press releases to editors@unityfirst.com! ---

For more information on African American Newswire, a national press release distribution service targeting the diverse press or UnityFirst.com, call 413-734-6444 or send email to editors@unityfirst.com.

###