Realtor^® Mal Washington: Former Tennis Pro Runs Youth Foundation

“While I was rehabbing my knee, I saw an ad for a real estate course and thought, ‘Why not?’” he says. He earned his real estate license, joined his friend’s brokerage – Ponte Vedra Beach Realty – and tried to start up his tennis career again. Washington is now with Diamond Life Realty. “I also have Diamond Life Real Estate Inc., which is my investment company,” he says.

However, the nagging injury would cause him to retire in 1999, pursue a career in television and continue slowly advancing his real estate career. “I started by buying investment properties,” says Washington.

Twenty-five years later, Washington is still selling real estate, but mainly for friends and family. That’s because his focus is on his youth foundation.

“What I love about real estate is teaching people about the value of real estate and homeownership, and I do that through my foundation,” he says.

The MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation, founded in 1997, is an after-school and summer youth development program in Jacksonville’s Urban Core that promotes academic achievement and positive life skills. As part of the program, he incorporates tennis into the program.

Some of the programs he offers through the Foundation are after-school tennis and tutoring for elementary school students, a leadership program for middle schoolers and also Club 904 for high school, which offers SAT and ACT prep, college tours and help with college applications.

But real estate remains close to his heart, and he offers help for students and their families.

“About 90% of the families attending the Foundation are life-long renters,” Washington says. “I’ve seen what owning real estate has done for me personally, so I try to relay that message and teach that method to others. My mission is to help students in the 32209 Zip code.

“I want to get young people to understand a couple of things: First, that their success in life is directly related to their education. And, next, that your success is also determined by your conduct and the decisions you make. So, we’re exposing them to life skills and education programs, while also introducing them to tennis.”

Why the 32209 Zip code? He explains, “There is so much gun violence and teen pregnancy, you name it, it goes on in this area. When kids are exposed to this behavior it becomes normalized. I don’t ever want that behavior to be normalized.”

The Foundation serves kids from kindergarten to 12th grade. His goal is to keep kids in the program as long as possible. The results show why.

“I had a young man who was one of the first to sign up for our after-school program,” Washington recalls. “He was in sixth grade. He stayed through our program through high school, was a walk-on to the Florida A&M tennis team and became a full-time employee for the Foundation as our head tennis pro.”

Having mentors who have been through the program and found success is vital to keeping kids in the program, he says.

This success also helps Washington raise money for the Foundation. “But it’s not just about raising money,” he says. “It’s also finding those thousands of donors who are willing to come in one day a week to lend their expertise, time and effort. That allows us to be successful.”

Washington was honored as a National Association of Realtors Good Neighbor in 2022. For more information on the MaliVai Washington Youth Foundation, go to malwashington.com.