Novogradac’s Building Opportunities Program Helps Prepare Students for Future Career

Amy Hook, Chief Social Impact Officer, Novogradac

Novogradac’s Building Opportunities program helped Tha Thoun step closer toward her life goals. Thoun experienced homelessness during childhood, something that informs and shapes her passion for civil rights. Now, as the first in her family to attend college, the student at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina seeks to help those less fortunate.

“The hardships fueled my desire for a strong work ethic,” Thoun said. “It also made me very resilient.”

This passion brought Thoun to Novogradac’s Building Opportunities program. Unveiled earlier this year, Building Opportunities introduces accounting and real estate finance students to career opportunities focused on community development.

Thoun was interested in learning more about some of the various community development tax incentives in which Novogradac specializes, including the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), new markets tax credit (NMTC) and historic tax credit (HTC). Thoun was one of 32 students from 24 schools selected to participate in the inaugural Building Opportunities program class. More than 250 applied.

Each applicant receives up to three hours of mentoring with a Novogradac employee who helps students navigate many of the traditional barriers to entry into the accounting industry, such as awareness of career path options, education and forming connections with professionals and potential mentors.

For Thoun, that manager was Shela Zhou, a senior tax accountant with Novogradac, whom Thoun said provided insight into community development.

“One of the most helpful pieces of advice I had received from her was about the (certified public accountant) exam and the reality of the industry that she is in,” Thoun said.

Gaining a deeper understanding of community development was helpful to Jason Hewitt, too. Hewitt is a first-generation immigrant whose family resettled in the United States when he was 18. Now a student at Boston University pursuing a graduate degree in finance, Hewitt hoped to take his knowledge from the Building Opportunities program back into the business world.

“I was particularly piqued by how the use of a leveraged structure in the [NMTC] program can increase the return on investment for investors and thereby incentivize investment in areas that would otherwise be overlooked,” Hewitt said.

Participants also receive 10-plus hours of educational training on community development tax incentives, are invited to attend a Novogradac conference, receive print copies of several of Novogradac’s handbooks about specific tax incentives and a yearlong virtual subscription to the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits magazine. For its inaugural year, Building Opportunities was available to full-time undergraduate and graduate students studying accounting, economics, business, finance or real estate with a 3.6 minimum grade-point average.

Attending the Novogradac 2021 Fall Renewable Energy and Environmental Tax Credits Conference was a highlight for Hewitt, who encouraged peers to participate in the program in future rounds.

“Novogradac’s Building Opportunities Program does a great job teaching how the various stakeholders in the various tax credits programs interact with each other to help develop or build back struggling local economies,” Hewitt said. “The over 20 hours spent being immersed in the video recordings, live conferences and talking to a mentor are all worth it.”

Tong Tran, a principal and CPA in Novogradac’s Walnut Creek, California, office, said he’s given guidance about career planning and interviewing. He called Building Opportunities “a very valuable resource for someone who is coming right out of college,” with some of the lessons bringing him back to that period in his own life and career.

“It kind of brings me back to the past and when I was just getting out of school,” Tran said. “It was a little intimidating to start interviewing around, especially when you don’t know exactly what you want to do. This program allows for the candidates to get insight into the industry–what Novogradac does, what other firms do, it helps with the interview process and more.”

Hewitt said the opportunities built have provided an appreciation for the scope of the work of community development.

“I entered with an open mind, as I believe knowledge can never be too much,” Hewitt said. “Now that I am aware of the scale and importance of tax credits for the economic development of local economies, I have one more avenue to pursue as I seek to enter the business world.”

Thoun looked forward to applying the skills and knowledge learned through the program in her future endeavors in community development and her passion for civil rights.

“The program is a great opportunity to apply the skills that are learned in accounting to different situations and aspects,” Thoun said. “It gives you a broader insight in what you are learning.”