Our Goals
By participating in this program, designers will learn best practices for community engagement and equitable design. They put those lessons into direct action with the support of the cohort, facilitators and community partners. To achieve our objectives we aim to:
Fulfill a more equitable and impactful design practice
Amplify the voices of community leaders
Create a welcoming, brave and inspiring space to grow personally and professionally.
Establish a cohort of design professionals prepared to support community initiatives with an equity lens.
Support professionals to advocate for social justice within their firms
Our Values
Our Core Team
Co-Director: Shalini Agrawal is trained as an architect and brings over 20 years of experience in community-engaged practice and pedagogy. She is the co-director FIELD Design Network, a forum that builds capacity for underrepresented designers. She is founder of Public Design for Equity and teaches at the intersection of design and community engagement in Diversity Studies at CCA. Shalini is a board member of Association for Community Design
Robin Crane - Communications Associate
Evelyn Thorne (she/her) is a writer, facilitator and educator with a focus on how systemic and cultural contexts shape our creative selves. Her writing and public training on the creative process of personal and societal transformation can be found at creativityincontext.org
Our Origins
This program is a collaboration between the Open Architecture Collaborative and the Association for Community Design. After 16 years of experience working with volunteer architects and designers on community driven design around the globe, the Open Architecture Collaborative shares the lessons learned. ACD brings the knowledge and experience of leaders from community design centers and practitioners from around the US to inform the program content and drive the community partnerships.
Supporters
Land Acknowledgment
We acknowledge that we are located on the traditional lands of the CHOCHENYO & RAMAYTUSH OHLONE peoples past, present and future. We acknowledge the traditional owners and caretakers of these lands. Knowing these truths, especially for a profession that builds on land, are critical to understanding and connecting across heritage and difference. If you’d like to know more about what territory you are on, please visit www.native-land.ca. Pathways to Equity supports Sogorea Te Land Trust
