Last year, in the wake of multiple pandemics impacting societal and environmental challenges, we came together to grapple with the resultant shifts and compounding disruptions that have challenged how we live, work and thrive. At this inflection point, we quickly pivoted and expanded our platform to respond to the rapidly changing needs of our profession and community members. #EQxD2020 Series, The JE:DI Agenda introduced a Justice– and Equity-driven approach to drive Diverse representation and Inclusive results at the contextual intersections of Social/Economic, Environmental, and Health, and Practice.

This year we will continue the next chapter with The JE:DI Agenda in Action with an augmented series of panels and workshops that will build on the outcomes of last year’s critical discourse and frameworks. We will begin with a summary of what we learned in 2020 and build upon it with today’s evolving challenges with an overview of JE:DI frameworks for solving these challenges proposed to date across multiple organizations.

Together, we will begin to co-create an intersectional “Roadmap for Action” designed to guide practitioners and firm leaders in their commitments to initiating and sustaining systemic change by dismantling systems of harm and oppression. We will propose a new paradigm for designing a just future in which the built environment cultivates dignity, belonging, agency and mutualism.

Registration for this program is open at the bottom of this page

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will investigate an intersectional concept of justice, articulating ways in which architectural practitioners can become change agents by designing holistically to address issues related to health, social mobility, and the environment.
2. Participants will become familiar with frameworks mitigating identified systems of harm, and to effectively advocate for workplace, social, health, and environmental justice.
3. Participants will understand practices and processes championed by JE:DI advocates, activists and be empowered to embrace their own identity and lived experiences to set or refresh professional career goals for meaningful impact.
4. Participants will gain self-awareness regarding each of the intersectional lenses identified and co-create a “Roadmap for Action” designed to address the root causes of systems of harm impacting their practices and communities.

About the Thought Leaders

Kiki Cooper
Organizer, DAP Collective
Pronouns: They/Them

Kiki Cooper earned a B.A. in Landscape Architecture from The Pennsylvania State University and currently is studying at the Harvard Graduate School of Design for concurrent Master’s degrees in Landscape Architecture in Urban Design and Design Studies. Kiki is an active member of the ASLA Emerging Professionals Committee and is a Design as Protest Core Organizer. During their undergrad and after entering the profession, they developed a myriad of passions that shaped their core design principles rooted in food security, equitable design, community building, youth empowerment, and design justice.

A.L. Hu, AIA, NOMA, EcoDistricts AP
Design Initiatives Manager, Ascendant Neighborhood Development | Organizer, DAP Collective
Pronouns: They/Them

A.L. Hu is a queer, non-binary person working in New York City. Their passion is at the intersections of the built environment and social justice, manifesting in design projects, essays, visual media, and collaborations with other architects and communities to understand and rethink the architect’s role in creating inclusive spaces. They were a 2019-2021 Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow and are currently working as Design Initiatives Manager at Ascendant Neighborhood Development in East Harlem. They are a member of as well as a conduit connecting many organizations, including Design As Protest, Dark Matter University, The Architecture Lobby, NCARB, and AIA New York. A.L. is the founder of Queeries, an initiative that seeks to quantify and qualify the multifaceted experiences, stories, and feelings of queer designers confronts discourses of diversity, equity, and inclusion within design professions.

Dayton Schroeter, AIA
Principal + Design Director, SmithGroup
Pronouns: He/Him

Dayton is a Principal and a national Design Director with Smithgroup who has championed Environmental and Social Justice advocacy throughout his career. Over his 20+ year career he has worked on a wide range of project types including mixed-use commercial & residential buildings, hospitality, science & technology, higher education and museums. As a leader of the firm’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, his charge is to lead design projects that address the systemic injustice that architecture, planning and environmental exploitation have perpetuated for historically disenfranchised communities. Leveraging his tenacious passion for design justice with authenticity and creativity, he is currently leading Antiracism efforts in design projects including The National Slavery Museum at Lumpkins Slave Jail, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Expansion and Renovation project and a traveling installation called Society’s Cage that sheds national awareness on the intersectional effects of racism on our society’s collective health, safety, and welfare.

Mary-Margaret Zindren, CAE
EVP/Executive Director, AIA Minnesota
Pronouns: She/Hers

For more than 20 years, Mary-Margaret Zindren, CAE, has worked to further equity, diversity, and inclusion in city government, the law, the profession of architecture, and the built environment. She is a frequent speaker and panelist on organizational leadership, gender equity, and racial justice. Since 2015, Mary-Margaret has held the position of EVP/executive director of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) – Minnesota, which includes the three local chapters of AIA in Minnesota (Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Northern Minnesota) and the Minnesota Architectural Foundation. From 2015 to 2020, she was the publisher of the award-winning Architecture MN magazine, which in Spring 2021 will transition to become ENTER — a digital weekly and annual print publication focused on the cities and neighborhoods of Minnesota, community leaders and designers who are creating a better built environment, and the ideas shaping the future of the places where we live, work and play. Mary-Margaret holds the American Society of Association Executives’ designation of Certified Association Executive, serves on the AIA National Equity and the Future of Architecture Committee, is vice president of the Council of Architectural Component Executives (CACE), and received the CACE Emerging Leader award in 2018. She also served on the Anti-Racism Leadership Team of Unity Unitarian Universalist Church in St. Paul, 2012–2015. She received her BA in public administration from Miami University and her MPA in public and nonprofit leadership from the University of Minnesota.

Architect Registration Examination (ARE) Challenge Scholarship Program

The ARE Challenge Scholarship Program recognizes that the effort and expense of the architectural licensing process as a barrier to achieving this professional milestone and disproportionately affects candidates of historically underrepresented identities in the profession. In light of the extremely challenging and economically unstable conditions that we are collectively facing, AIASF Equity by Design has established financial assistance scholarships for licensure candidates who are eligible to take the ARE exams. Submissions are due by Friday, April 15, 2022.

Selected Recipients of the ARE Challenge Scholarship will be reimbursed for three (3) ARE Exams (Value $705 per recipient), regardless of pass or fail status. Recipients will also receive six (6) complimentary registrations to AIASF ARE prep classes.

We are also seeking AEC co-sponsorship of this program to fund additional ARE Challenge Scholarship recipients; contact sponsorship@aiasf.org to learn more.

Eligibility:

• Applicants must be currently eligible to take the ARE Exams for Architectural Licensure.
• Candidates must be currently authorized to work in the United States.
• Applicants are strongly encouraged to participate in 2021 EQxD programming.

REGISTER

Scholarship Partners
AIASF Architecture Licensing Committee | AIASF Mentorship Committee | AIASF Equity by Design Committee

Program Sponsors

Silver Level

Steel Level

Bronze Level

Copper Level

Sherwin Williams Coil Coatings      Tipping Structural Engineers
Walker Warner Architects

Need-Based Complimentary Tickets

This program is welcoming and supportive of those interested in attending that are currently experiencing economic uncertainty. We will ensure that there are no barriers to access for this program.

In recognition of the compounded challenges of this time, AIASF Equity by Design will be providing need-based complimentary series tickets for those challenged with financial hardship. If you are a student, emerging professional, or practitioner who is currently unemployed or under-employed, please email info@aiasf.org to request complimentary registration for the session.