Episode 27: Protecting What’s Yours: A Property Inheritance Conversation with Thaddaus Dawson

Thaddaus Dawson brings more than 38 years of experience in real estate and property valuation. His journey began at just 19, when he used his summer earnings from General Motors to enroll in real estate courses—earning his license in 1985 and stepping into a profession he would one day transform.

Early on, Dawson became one of the first Black commercial appraisers in Cincinnati. While working for the City’s Real Estate Division, he uncovered a troubling truth: Black homeowners were consistently undervalued, not because of their property—but because of their identity. This inequity would become the driving force behind his life’s work.

To challenge systemic bias and expand access to the profession, Dawson first launched 10K Minority Appraisers (10K MA)—a grassroots movement to recruit and train the next generation of Black appraisers. That initiative has since evolved into the 10K Appraisers Foundation (10K AF), a nonprofit focused on workforce development, appraisal education, and paid internship pipelines. As he traveled, listened, and learned, he recognized that this challenge isn’t isolated—it’s structural. But it’s also solvable. He saw an opportunity to re-imagine and modernize a legacy system so that it reflects the strength, resilience, and contributions of all communities.