--Message from the 2001 NOMA President,
as paraphrased in the September 2001 issue of AIArchitect

In August 2001, the President of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), the AIA President, and sixteen other national politicos convened in Washington, DC, for a daylong "summit" to address the ongoing lack of diversity in the architecture profession. This event produced the photo at left as well as two articles published in AIArchitect, included below. In one article, the 2001 AIA President announced a goal of 15,000 African-American architects by 2030. The other article acknowledged that "[b]ecause hard data on representation by race and gender are scant or non-existent, the first defined task is to gather these statistics for analysis."

Three years later--and just two weeks ago--the AIA membership overwhelmingly approved a resolution focused on diversity data collection. The resolution calls for a comprehensive audit regarding what information we do know about the demographics of the profession, a decision about what additional information we should know, and an ongoing multi-year effort to put it all together. According to the resolution, the first report is expected by next May.

This data collection effort will not by itself achieve the established goal of 15,000 African-American architects by 2030. To meet that goal, we would need roughly 20% of new architects to be African-American every year between now and 2030. Currently, the number of African-American architecture students is reported by the NAAB to be less than 5% of the total; anecdotally, a much smaller percentage actually gets licensed.

Hopefully, as a result of the AIA's leadership, we won't have to rely on anecdotes by this time next year. Instead, we'll have trustworthy numbers that we can track over time, that will either approach or not approach a clear goal, and that can at least give us better insight into where the real obstacles lie.

Believe in the future.

1. "Three Years Later"
2. 2004 AIA Convention Resolution
3. Understanding the Resolution
4. AIA Diversity Committee
5. "AIA NOMA Strengthening Ties"
6. "A Truly Diverse Profession: Taking the First Steps"
7. Directory of African-American Architects
8. ArchVoices Essays and Newsletter Issues on Diversity

1. "Three Years Later"

The following text, speaking to the significance of the AIA resolution, is excerpted from a conversation we had with 2001 NOMA President Paul Taylor yesterday evening. Mr. Taylor served as 2001 President of the NOMA and is a newly-appointed member of our 2004-2006 ArchVoices Board of Advisors.

"In 2001, I recounted to John Anderson, then-AIA President, 'Thirty years ago, Whitney Young said that the AIA wasn't responsive to social issues and at that time the percentage of African-American architects was just 1%. Well, thirty years later, it is still 1%.' I simply told John that I didn't want the next thirty years to look like the last thirty years. In my view, the AIA legitimately claims to be the leading organization in this profession. As such, the AIA must be responsible for providing leadership on this issue. He agreed.

I had a specific reason for choosing thirty years--partly because it had been about thirty years since Whitney Young's speech. But also because only those born today will have had the maximum exposure to our efforts to increase diversity and thirty years from now is when they will be at the point of becoming licensed architects. That's when we can see the full impact that our strategies might have.

After the meeting in 2001, people said to me, 'Paul, we have to act now; three years is too long.' I said no, that we had to work through the pre-design phase; 'Don't put pencil to paper until you know what the client needs.' It is important to consider that there had been a lot of hard-working, intelligent, and creative people who had put a lot of thought into increasing diversity in this profession, and it hadn't worked. So I said that I didn't want to do the same things all over again. As architects, we focus on solutions and we're creative; that's how we operate. What we don't do well is research.

I believe this resolution is well-crafted to coincide with the values of the AIA. And now it's time to monitor it and keep some attention on it. I feel really good that we got from the first floor to the second floor with this resolution. We cannot accomplish our goal if we don't have a consistent action plan over time. It also has to be monitored and followed-up on.

As is said, you have to nurture the plant before you start picking fruit. Let it grow. People are going to want to be giving out scholarships tomorrow. I believe we've got to focus on the future and efforts that will bear fruit continuously over time."

2. 2004 AIA Convention Resolution

04-02: "To Strengthen the Demographic Diversity of the Design Profession"

Text of Resolution

WHEREAS the demographics of society are changing and becoming more diverse; and

WHEREAS over the past 35 years, since Whitney Young Jr. challenged the AIA to embrace diversity, the demographics of the architecture profession have not changed significantly and are not reflective of the diverse society that we serve; and

WHEREAS data on all aspects of the profession--particularly demographic data--are scarce, largely anecdotal, and often unverifiable and thus hamper our ability to understand why diversity remains an elusive goal for the profession; and

WHEREAS the percentage of African-American architects has remained unchanged for the past 35 years, the number of women attaining leadership positions in the profession is significantly less than the number of women entering the profession, and information on the number of Latino architects, architects with disabilities, gay/lesbian architects, foreign-born architects, Asian American architects and other groups of architects who bring diverse backgrounds to the profession is remarkably scarce,

Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED that the AIA acknowledges and embraces the value of human diversity and believes that it enriches the profession of architecture, our community, and the quality of the built environment; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the AIA will collaborate with related architectural organizations and support research initiatives and ongoing data collection that will lead the profession to a better understanding of who enters and succeeds in the profession and why; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the AIA will provide funding for an audit on existing data within the profession. The audit and the analysis of it will be presented to the Board of the AIA by May, 2005.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the AIA will develop a comprehensive data-collection and analysis system to continually track the diversity of the profession over time. The system will be presented to the AIA Board by September 2005, for implementation to begin on January 1, 2006, with annual reports to the membership during Convention of each year.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that an Action Plan for implementation be drafted by the Diversity Committee by October 1, 2004. Based on the data collected by June 2005, a final plan and recommendations for programs will be presented to the Board by December 2005. A report on the progress of the implementation of the recommendations will be presented to the Convention in 2006.

3. Understanding the Resolution

The following was prepared by the AIA Diversity Committee in advance of the 2004 AIA Convention. To download it as a PDF, click here.

Why are we calling for research on diversity in the design professions?

Look around you. It is common knowledge that women and traditionally underrepresented groups have made only small gains over the past three decades. We know that many who begin in architecture programs do not complete them. We know that many who graduate from school never complete the registration process. But we don't know why. Comprehensive, longitudinal data on graduates' career path will provide critical insight into the profession and help us understand why some succeed and many others do not. We will learn what motivates individuals to study architecture and what obstacles they encounter on the journey through school, licensure, and beyond. The research initiative at the core of the 2004 diversity resolution will address this lack of data on the profession. From this program, we will learn what the AIA and the profession can do better to support all individuals who explore and want to pursue architecture as a career.

Why don't we just offer more scholarships?

Scholarships are an important component of any comprehensive approach to supporting economically underprivileged individuals in any field, but scholarships alone will not solve the lack of diversity in the profession. The AIA, through The American Architectural Foundation (AAF), has coordinated its Minority/Disadvantaged Student Scholarship since 1970. In addition, many state and local foundations have similar scholarship programs. But, as we know, there has been no measurable increase of minority architects. The research initiative proposed in the resolution will help us understand how support (financial and otherwise) can impact the success of individuals who pursue architecture and will give us the knowledge to apply future resources to the most effective scholarships and programs.

Why is diversity so difficult to achieve?

To embrace diversity is to aspire to be inclusive. When used to describe a group, diversity represents a desire for and a celebration of differences and the recognition that the group benefits from divergent opinion and ideas. Lack of diversity should not be seen as a problem; it is an opportunity. Diversity cannot be achieved by programs and initiatives alone, although those can help create opportunity and reduce obstacles. To achieve true diversity requires a cultural shift and systematic approach to inclusiveness.

What is the background? What led to the resolution? What's next?

In August 2001, the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) initiated a meeting with the AIA. At that meeting, the participants discussed the continued lack of diversity in the profession and the desire to work together toward a more inclusive and diverse future. The overwhelming frustration at that gathering was a lack of verifiable research and data on the profession. Simple statistics like the number of African-Americans or even total people studying architecture or enrolled in the Internship Development Program (IDP) were not available. Data that tracked the success of women in the profession over time was lacking and information on the number of Latino and Hispanic architects was not to be found.

In 2002, the AIA Diversity Committee made the quest for better data a core part of its mission. The goal was to involve all organizations with an interest in the long-term success of the profession in a committed strategy for improving the quality and quantity of data regarding the professional career path. In April 2003, a data summit was held at the AIA headquarters. Representatives from the AIA, NOMA, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), ArchVoices, McGraw-Hill, the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) attended, as well as independent researchers. Reports on existing data were shared and a matrix of desired information begun. At that meeting, it became clear that the lack of data on the career path extended beyond gender and race--little information existed regarding students, interns, professionals with disabilities, retirees, and unlicensed professionals working in the industry, in addition to many other stakeholders in the architecture profession. In December 2003, at a follow-up meeting, an outside research firm was engaged to help design a comprehensive research initiative.

To ensure that this project receives the organizational and financial support necessary to succeed, the diversity resolution was written and presented to the membership earlier this year for consideration at the 2004 AIA Convention in Chicago.

Information from the research will be published as soon as it is available. That information will help local, regional, and national leaders shape policy and programs that address diversity and lead to positive change.

What else is the AIA Diversity Committee doing?

The AIA Diversity Committee routinely sponsors educational sessions and workshops at various AIA events, including the annual convention. The committee developed a national conference in November 2003 and published a book, titled 20 on 20/20 Vision: Perspectives on Diversity and Design, comprised of peer-reviewed and invited essays on diversity. A follow-up series of workshops is planned for November 2004. In addition, the committee is working on a national award to recognize diversity efforts within individual firms and working closely with the AIA Board's discussion group on diversity. The work of the committee is updated on the AIA website and communicated through an electronic discussion list, Diversity-Talk. The committee is also working with the Council of Architectural Component Executives (CACE) and other groups to help shape local and state diversity programs and initiatives across the country. Additionally, Diversity Committee members are active in their respective AIA components, ACSA, ArchVoices, CACE, firm management, academia, nontraditional practice, and many other groups.

4. AIA Diversity Committee

The AIA Diversity Committee strives to expand the diversity of the design professions to mirror the society that we serve; to promote awareness of the contributions of architects from under-represented racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability groups; to encourage alternatives to traditional practice models; and to provide opportunities for an ever-greater variety of individuals to become architects, take advantage of leadership opportunities and influence our practices and our professional lives. For more information, visit http://www.aia.org/diversity.

Committee members include:

Ted Landsmark, MEvD, JD, PhD, Assoc. AIA (Chair)
President, Boston Architectural Center | Boston, MA

Ronald Battaglia, FAIA (AIA Board Liaison)
Flynn Battaglia Architects PC | Buffalo, NY

John Cary, Assoc. AIA
Co-founder, ArchVoices | Berkeley, CA

Stephan Castellanos, FAIA
California State Architect | Sacramento, CA

Helen Hatch, AIA
TVS Associates | Atlanta, GA

Nancy Jenner (CACE Liaison)
Boston Society of Architects | Boston, MA

Linda Kiisk, AIA
Assistant Professor, University of Wyoming | Laramie, WY

Benjamin Vargas, AIA (AIA Board Liaison)
Bartizan Group Architects & Project Managers, PSC | San Juan, PR

In addition to 2001 AIA President John Anderson, FAIA, the Diversity Committee remains indebted to Kristi Graves, who served as the Diversity Committee staff liaison until just recently.

5. "AIA NOMA Strengthening Ties"

Published in the September 2001 issue of AIArchitect

Paul Taylor, AIA, president of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) came to the AIA headquarters building in Washington, D.C., August 1 to bring his message to the fore: The AIA needs to take a leadership position in increasing the numbers of people who pursue architectural registration.

AIA President John D. Anderson, FAIA, and First Vice President Gordon H. Chong, FAIA, were both present to embrace the challenge, as were representatives of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, and American Institute of Architecture Students.

Taylor called for the meeting in March to address NOMA concerns that African-Americans are underrepresented in the architectural community. With a percentage of the total U.S. population standing at 12.3 percent, only 2.3 percent of U.S. architects were African-American in 1999, according to the Statistical Abstract of the United States. The numbers are lower than for other minorities. For instance, Hispanics, another minority underrepresented in the profession, make up 4.4 percent of the population of architects in this country and 12.5 percent of the overall U.S. population.

Moreover, the growth rate in the percentage of African-Americans in architecture has remained flat, at about .7 percent, since 1983, according to AIA membership statistics.

"I sense there is an untapped pool of talent out there that we are overlooking," Anderson said. "This loss of creativity is tragic."

Chong, who will be the AIA president in 2002, pledged his ongoing support for the AIA/NOMA partnership. The group agreed to continue multilateral communications to define a purpose, create a plan, develop a viable network among the collateral organizations, and develop the tools necessary to get results.

Because hard data on representation by race and gender are scant or nonexistent, the first defined task is to gather these statistics for analysis, the group agreed.

6. "A Truly Diverse Profession: Taking the First Steps"

Published in the November 2001 issue of AIArchitect.

Thirteen percent of the U.S. population is African-American.

Seven percent of students currently in U.S. architecture schools are African-American.

One percent of licensed architects in the U.S. are African-American.

No significant changes have taken place in these statistics for at least the past 10 years.

Background
In 1968, at the AIA national convention in Portland, Ore., the late Whitney M. Young Jr. challenged the architecture profession, and specifically the AIA, "to assume its professional responsibility to the social issues of today." One of those issues was--and remains today--a significant increase of minority participation in our profession.

Since 1972, the AIA has annually bestowed a "Whitney M. Young Jr. Award" on an architect or an architecturally oriented organization in recognition of a significant contribution toward meeting that responsibility. But how well have we done in meeting the specific challenge of increasing the percentage of licensed African-American architects in the U.S.? The facts paint a bleak picture.

Frustrated by the AIA's failure to make much progress on Young's challenge, a diversity task force was created in 1994 to address the issue and to come up with strategies to improve the statistics to where the number of African-American architects would more nearly mirror the statistics of the U.S. population as a whole. The manifesto that the task force produced called for measures to:

--Increase minority participation on the AIA Board to reflect changing demographics
--Initiate diversity training among upper management
--Redress public and operating policies of the AIA relative to diversity
--Guide members in affiliated firms to access work produced by diverse architects
--Counter Euro-centric views in publications
--Support mutual efforts at mentorship
--Encourage African-American youth to consider architecture as a career
--Adopt diversity-balanced employment practices in the AIA.

Again, however, very little progress seems to have been made and the core problem remains.

Fast forward
Spring 2001. Enter Paul Taylor, NOMA, AIA, current president of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA).

Paul called me one day in February and asked if I would meet with him to discuss his frustration with the situation. We met in Washington on March 14 at the AIA's national headquarters with staff from both organizations. One of the outcomes of that meeting was an agreement to call a summit to tackle the problem in some detail.

On August 1, a total of 18 people?AIA staff and elected leadership, NOMA practitioners, academicians, historians, and additional staff from AIAS and NCARB?gathered again in Washington. Presentations were made on data collected to date by ACSA, NAAB, and the AIA. Representatives from the schools and practitioners were there to share their perceptions.

Conclusions reached by the group included using the 1994 manifesto as a "launching pad" for a new and sustained effort to change the statistics dramatically. As articulated by Taylor, we set our sights on a goal of 15,000 African-American licensed architects in the U.S. by 2030.

Also included in our consensus was a call for more reliable data, particularly from ACSA. With those data in hand, which will either support or refute the anecdotal evidence that we have in abundance, we then need to develop strategies that take us to real solutions. Most importantly, we all agreed to create an ongoing agenda to make solid progress within a year. To this end, President Taylor and I are committed to a sequence that includes data gathering and analysis, additional meetings, and buy-in by both the AIA and NOMA Boards as well as our other collaterals (AIAS, ACSA, NAAB, and NCARB). Gordon Chong, FAIA, our 2002 president, has agreed to support these commitments next year.

One small step
We shared many ideas at the summit about why the problem of increasing the number of African-American architects persists. Another recent personal encounter suggests both the depth of the problem and the nature of future positive steps.

Recently, I found myself sitting next to an African-American man on a flight to Baltimore, where he was to attend a corporate seminar. After exchanging the usual stuff, he mentioned that his obviously bright son had just entered college to pursue a degree in engineering. But, he went on, his son already was unhappy, because he was being urged to use only half of his brain and to subvert his clearly artistic bent. When I suggested that he might be happier if he were in an architecture program, his dad admitted that he had never encountered a high school counselor who presented that option.

There's a wealth of talent out there that's going untapped. Tapping it may, in some cases, be as obvious as taking the time to talk to a teacher, or parent, or a teenager who is trying to find his or her way in the world.

7. Directory of African-American Architects

The Directory of African-American Architects is maintained as a public service to promote an awareness of who African-American architects are and where they are located. There are currently 1,448 licensed African-American registered architects listed in the database, including 160 women and 1,288 men.

The Directory is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Practice at the University of Cincinnati.

Contact Dennis Mann by email at Dennis.Alan.Mann@uc.edu for more information.

8. ArchVoices Essays and Newsletter Issues on Diversity

ArchVoices has attempted to address diversity in various ways over the past five years. Most recently, Tamara Redburn, Assoc. AIA (Williamston, MI), author of "The Diversity of Interns" earned second prize in our 2004 ArchVoices Essay Competition. At least two semifinalist essays--"The New Pioneers" by Brandy Brooks, and "Architectural Registration & its Diversity Vortex" by Shannon Chance, Assoc. AIA.

Related issues of our newsletter have included:

Black History Month (2/20/04)

1968 (7/11/03)

Affirmative Action (3/28/03)

Universal Design (9/13/02)

Women in Architecture (3/1/02)

Black History Month (2/22/02)

Women on the Job Site (3/26/01)

A White Gentleman's Profession? (2/19/01)

Suplemento por Arquitectos Hispano (9/11/00)

Women's History Month (3/4/00)

Black History Month Supplement (2/4/00)

As always, we welcome your thoughts by email at editors@archvoices.org.