Addressing Racial Injustice

Systemic racism in our society continues to foster profound inequalities, fear, and intolerable acts of aggression, particularly against our Black American communities. We at Ellenzweig acknowledge and condemn racial prejudice in all its forms. We are committed to proactively work against racial injustice, as well as explicit and implicit bias in our profession and related endeavors.

Design for human dignity has always been deeply ingrained in our profession. We pledge to:

 

•  Call out and condemn racist behavior and policies when encountered.

 

•  Expand our professional networks to draw more racially diverse graduates and practitioners to our firm.

 

•  Seek out racially diverse supply and service vendors.

 

•  Redouble our efforts to collaborate with Black-owned consulting firms beyond mandated MBE goals.

 

•  Actively engage with the AIA and BSA to dismantle systemic racial injustice at the national, state and local levels.

 

•  Seek out and engage with non-profit organizations that work to achieve racial equality.

 

•  Reinforce within our firm a culture of community service in racially diverse neighborhoods.

 

We recognize that these steps to action must begin with self-reflection:  racial diversity is significantly under-represented in our profession. We believe that essential demographic change will come only from increasing diversity in the student population aspiring to become architects. We therefore pledge to renew our volunteer involvement in K-12 schools and other educational organizations that serve our locally disadvantaged students.

 

Specifically, we will:

 

•  Engage with racially marginalized students to increase awareness of our profession as a rewarding and socially impactful career path, by providing introductory visits to our office, offering paid internships, and initiating mentoring relationships to support and empower these students.

 

•  Team with the Boston Society for Architecture to support disadvantaged student scholarships in the pursuit of an architectural degree.

 

Addressing these systemic and complex issues will require humility and determination. In so doing, we at Ellenzweig intend to make a meaningful contribution to achieve a more just and all-inclusive Union.