Local EDGE brings the mentorship model home to your chapter. Two parts, in order — we build the relationship muscle first, then graduate into the 5-step growth playbook that's already been proven.
National EDGE is small on purpose — ten mentor seats, every mentee interviewed. That scarcity is what makes the brand mean something. It also means we can't fit every AREAA member who'd benefit.
Local EDGE handles the other side. We bring the model to your chapter, where there's room for more people, the cadence is friendlier, and the on-ramp is right at home.
Local EDGE is where you grow — chapter-level pairings between your senior leaders and your up-and-coming talent. New AREAA members come in here.
National EDGE is where leaders get made — ten seats, interview-vetted, focused on retention. Standout people from Local EDGE feed in over time.
If you want to bring EDGE to your region, the path has two parts and they go in order. Part 1 builds the local relationship muscle. Part 2 graduates you into the 5-step growth framework that's already working. You can't skip to Part 2 — Part 1 has to come first.
What it is. Your chapter runs its own mentor-mentee pairings using your senior leaders and your emerging talent. Wider funnel, friendlier pace, on-ramp close to home.
What it takes. A board that'll commit to an annual rhythm. A handful of senior members willing to mentor for a year. And the willingness to run it without charging mentees.
What you get. New AREAA members who came in through a real relationship, not a registration form. And the standouts you'll send up to the next tier.
What it is. Once you've run Local Mentorship for a year, your chapter qualifies to pick up the full AREAA Growth Playbook through EDGE — the same 5-step framework chapters running EDGE have used to perform strongly in the national membership signup contest.
What it takes. You do the work. We support — we share the playbook, run guest sessions, hand over templates — but your board owns the execution. That's the gate, and it's the gate for a reason: it's what protects the quality of the program.
What you get. A chapter running on the 5-step rhythm. Real, measurable membership growth. And a shot at winning the national contest.
The gate matters. The 5-step playbook only works once you've built the relationship muscle that Part 1 develops. Skip Part 1 and the playbook turns into a checklist. The Part 1 work is what makes it stick.
This is the framework we've sharpened over years of running EDGE and tested against the national membership signup contest. It's open to chapter boards that have finished Part 1 and are ready to commit.
Lock in the whole calendar at meeting one — events, pairings, recruitment touches, all of it. No improvising in July.
Asian-language-speaking realtors in your region. Public Zillow phone listings work fine for outreach — and you've got a built-in conversation starter.
Call, text, and email. Same warm opener, no pitch. Invite them to a free chapter event, not a sales call.
Top Golf. Dim sum. Go-karts. Pick venues your members would show up for on a Saturday — they'll bring friends. Color-coded name tags so the regulars know who to welcome.
iPad in hand at peak emotional moment. Give them a small ritual — a pin, a group photo, add them to WhatsApp before they leave so the conversation keeps going.
The chapters that ran the playbook with discipline year after year have performed strongly in the national membership signup contest. Consistency is the multiplier.
What makes the playbook last is the handoff between one board and the next.
Local EDGE isn't a one-year push. It's an annual rhythm that has to pass cleanly from one chapter board to the next. The 5-step playbook is the starting point — but writing down what works for your chapter and handing it off on purpose is what makes it last.
Seattle is currently the active Local EDGE reference site. Other chapters have explored the model over the years — we're building from what they learned. The natural next chapter looks like this: an established AREAA chapter with informal mentoring already happening, a board that wants to make it real, and the ambition to grow membership.
If that's your chapter and you want to start, reach out — the playbook is open.
For people on the EDGE path, the long arc often looks like this: someone joins Local EDGE as a mentee, then years later becomes a National EDGE mentee, then a few years after that becomes a National EDGE mentor. Each step is a stepping stone in a leadership path that takes years to walk.
We track one number that matters: 40-50% of National EDGE mentees move into AREAA leadership roles — chapter board, national task force, committee chair — within 12 to 18 months of finishing the year. The alumni community is what makes that happen.
If your board wants to run Local EDGE, here's how it goes. The process is light on purpose — the work is in the doing, not the application.
Your chapter president or board lead emails the National EDGE chair: chapter name, board contact, why you're interested, and any informal mentoring already happening. A short note is plenty. We don't need a formal proposal.
A 30-minute Zoom with the National EDGE chair. We walk through where your chapter is, how the two parts work, what Year 1 looks like, and what we'll need from your board.
Your board signs up to run Local Mentorship for a year. We hand over templates, get on a call with your senior mentors, and check in midyear. You run it locally.
At the end of Year 1, we sit down with you and look at what worked. Chapters that ran Part 1 with discipline qualify to pick up the full 5-step playbook in Year 2.
You run the 5-step playbook through Year 2 with light support from us. Performance shows up in the AREAA national year-over-year membership signup contest.
The structure rewards chapters that put in the relationship work first — and gives you a real shot at measurable growth in Year 2. It also protects the quality of the program: nobody skips to the playbook without doing the foundation year.
The playbook's open. Our mentors are available for guest sessions. The sponsorship side scales down to chapter size — we'll help you figure it out.