Seema Iyer, associate director of UB’s Jacob France Institute and research assistant professor in the Merrick School of Business, worked with local real estate professionals to start the Pitch for a Million competition – an opportunity for the inaugural class of the University of Baltimore Real Estate Fellows to work with local, seasoned professionals on their proposals to strengthen some of Baltimore’s middle-market neighborhoods, including Forest Park, Franklin Square, Upton, Liberty Heights and Cherry Hill. The winning proposal would receive financing up to $1 million in a line of credit from Baltimore Community Lending. “We put together a mentoring program and a curriculum from beginning to end,” Iyer says. It worked: Out of seven pitches to lending institutions, three were approved. “We’re hoping that part of the solution to the city’s revitalization will be the Fellows program here at the University of Baltimore.”