Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Plan

Equity Diversity & Inclusion Plan

May

Acknowledgements to the EDI Committees Survey Committee: Cathy Bellem, Ben Blanchard, Joey Carrasquillo, John Everin, Jennifer Lozano, Kristin O'Connell, Jennifer Price

Plan Committee: Cathy Bellem, Ben Blanchard, Jennifer Lozano, Jenna Michieli, David Pfeifer, Jennifer Price, Matt Weaver

"Create a strong plan and continue what you’ve started."

You can’t be an architect if you don’t know they exist.

Michelle Obama, 2017 American Institute of Architects Conference

Anderson Mason Dale Architects is deeply committed to diversity, inclusion, gender equity, race diversity and LGBTQ+ representation throughout all levels of the firm. Our founder, John Anderson, established a legacy decades ago of mentorship for and commitment to women and persons of color in the profession of architecture. In 2013, he was awarded the Edward C. Kemper Honor Award by the American Institute of Architects, which recognizes service to the profession including ‘areas as diversity, sustainability, or the mentoring of emerging professionals.’

We recognize diversity as a moral and ethical imperative and acknowledge there are layers of historic and institutional action and intent that underpin the inequities within our society and profession. We also understand and embrace the intangible value of authentically reflecting the communities we serve through all levels of our firm. This allows us to build stronger empathy, understanding and communication surrounding the common lived experiences of the community. Growing our studio to include a broad range of backgrounds and unique perspectives, allows us to offer more nuanced, innovative, and culturally responsive solutions.

Our studio community directs the character of our work.

This is our legacy.

Reflecting and empathizing with our communities is understood to be instrumental in our effectiveness to address the circumstances of projects, and to shape appropriate solutions that advance their aspirations and visions.

We are collaborators. We embrace the responsibility of engaging all perspectives. We believe in building an equitable environment for all, one which celebrates our commonalities and diversity. Design is a shared responsibility.

As architects of the public realm, we foster positive influence in society. By exploring and engaging the patterns that inform society, our role is to listen, to translate, to embrace and to challenge. Our work is rooted in objective perspectives and shaped with humane sensitivity.

This plan considers the following dimensions of diversity:

• Age

• Cognition

• Culture

• Disability status

• Education levels

• Ethnicity

• Gender

• Gender identity

• Race

• Sexual orientation

• Socioeconomic background

Active Listening

Step 1: Consultant + Committee

In the fall of 2020, AMD contracted externally with the Cameron McAllister Group (CMG) to develop a 50-question survey of staff around the firm’s ongoing ability to recruit, hire, retain, promote, and celebrate a diverse staff. CMG worked with a committee of AMD staff which included representatives at all levels and roles. The survey was administered online from February 24 through March 15, 2021. The survey data was compiled into an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Assessment and presented to AMD staff in November 2021.

The assessment focus areas included demographics, roles & responsibilities, “joining AMD”, workplace culture & relationships, professional development, engagement and impact, and work-life balance. Key questions focused on the design culture and sense of inclusion, alignment of firm culture with stated values, experience of AMD values/culture based on personal identity, firm communication style and implications, and better understanding the AMD culture of mentorship and support structure to grow careers at AMD.

Step 2: Survey + Findings

Pride in employment at AMD: 100% of staff surveyed either “agree” or “strongly agree” that they are proud to work at AMD.

Sustained efforts to increase diversity: Recent years have seen a more equitable gender

composition of the studio which at the time of this report break out as 60% male to 40% female employees within the architecture studio. This percentage compares with the published gender diversity within the AIA Architect membership (Membership demographics, AIA), which was 25.7% in 2021 for all members, but

Step 3: Additional Outreach

Listening Sessions:15 conducted Groups Ranging From: 4-25

Organized Around Shared Experiences: years at AMD, roles, genders, and family situations. Conducted from October - December 2021 and again before the office retreat from April - June 2022.

One-on-One Conversations: Staff who reached out with conflicts for the listening sessions, or a preference for an individual conversation were invited to one-on-one lunch meetings, which accounted for approximately 10-15% of the staff.

Anonymous Suggestion Box

Trial Period & Follow-up Surveys: Two additional surveys were conducted following a remote work policy trial period, to provide staff the opportunity to provide feedback on the development of that policy.

Survey Participation

82% participation rate exceeded the goal of 75%

Average of 48 minutes taking the survey

70-85% of respondents answered open-ended written question

is as high as 41.7% of Associates, demonstrating that the field continues to diversify in terms of gender as more women enter the industry.

Respect and Value: 88% of surveyed agree that people of all cultures, backgrounds and values are respected and valued at AMD.

Challenges

Young people have a less positive experience of AMD culture and inclusion.

The design culture is not widely seen as inclusive.

Many staff feel unsafe taking risks or making mistakes at work. There are reservations about the quality of communication from firm leadership.

The culture at AMD could be a bit serious at times; could there be more levity and openness.

Internal Values

In 2020 Anderson Mason Dale Architects enlisted the services of a 3rd party advisor to assist us in evaluating the firm’s overall structure and operations, including leadership, development, marketing and communications. These efforts were expanded to focus, prioritize and formalize an AMD Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Plan to accompany the new generation of firm leadership.

The EDI plan will serve to drive and measure our efforts towards accountability. It is organized into two sections, those internal to our firm operations and those external to clients, communities, and industry relationships our firm engages.

AMD’s internal diversity initiatives address our practices and policies on:

Recruitment & Retention

Relational Well-being

Inclusive Design Environment

Mentoring & Professional Development

Firm

Communication

Recruit & Retain A Diverse Staff

Architecture is by nature a collaborative industry. Nearly every aspect of our work is crafted through the efforts of a team, and research shows that diversity within a team creates better work.

We recognize the imperative to increase diversity of staff both because of the potential to make our work better, and because, as public architects, we work with a diverse public. By reflecting the clients and communities we serve in the teams we put forth, we improve the potential for authentic connection and collaboration, which informs our work. We also offer role models to the communities we work with to illustrate architecture as a career for anyone.

Today, one-quarter of our firm ownership is held by a person of color and more than a third of our firm Principals and Senior Associates leaders are women. Firmwide, we have made strides in building gender diversity resulting in over 50% gender diversity. We continue to build cultural, ethnic and racial diversity within our studio, currently reflecting 9.4% diversity firm-wide.

We are committed to the hiring, retention, and promotion of racially and ethnically diverse employees at all levels of the firm. Our retention and promotion strategies are focused on providing a culture and work environment where all employees can be successful in their careers and to be represented at all levels of the organization, including senior leadership.

Research shows that diverse teams are smarter and more creative, enhanced by the integration of different points of view.

Harvard Business Review, Forbes, National Public Radio

Increase the Diversity of Our Staff

With a focus on communityoriented projects, we find an additional imperative to increase the diverse make-up of our staff, so that we can reflect the communities we serve and model a pathway into our industry.

GOAL Double the percentage of underrepresented groups within the AMD staff by 2030.

1. Engage universities and local minority-focused organizations for recruiting (i.e. NOMA).

2. Host a summer intern annually from an HBCU or other minorityfocused institution.

3. Review hiring process to ensure postings are written and posted in an inclusive way to ensure resume review aligns with diversity goals.

4. Develop and track metrics on diversity at all stages of the hiring process, in employee retention, and in any workforce reductions.

Invest in the Pipeline to Our Industry

Nationally and locally, our industry has not matched the diverse make-up of the general population. We must make efforts to ensure a broader cross-section of the future workforce is exposed to Architecture as a career and has access to pathways into the industry.

GOAL

1. Host one or more student interns each year from local, underrepresented communities (high school or college).

2. Engage local K-12 schools to promote the field of architecture. Focus on schools with a diverse student population. Commit to engaging two schools per year.

Members

Membership

2021

Pinch Points

Women in Architecture, the Missing 32% GRADUATION MID CAREER RETIREMENT

"In the United Stated, women represent slightly less than 50 percent of the student graduating from accredited architecture programs. The percentage of women who are American Institute of Architects member, license architects and senior leaders varies between 15 - 18 percent of the total."

Equity by Design:

The Evolution of a Movement May 24, 2018 Rosa Sheng, AIA and Annelise Pitts, AIA

Architecture Student Debt

M. ARCH

Male, Black

M. ARCH

Female, Black

M. ARCH

Female, Asian or East Indian

B. ARCH

Female, Asian or East Indian

RANGE

All Groups

All Respondents (Average)

Equity by Design: Voices, Values, Vision!

2018 Equity in Architecture Survey Report, AIA San Francisco

This chart illustrates the average current debt by degree level and graduation year, based on demographics At least part of the reason for lack of diversity in our profession could be related to student debt. It shows a reason why BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) populations may find architecture as a career difficult or impossible to consider.

Finding from the AIA San Francisco's Equity by Design (AIASF's EQxD) committee 2016 Equity in Architecture Survey. Design by Atelier Cho Thompson. Courtesy AIA San Francisco Equity by Design Committee.

Identify & Address PinchPoints within the Career Path

We know that women and minorities are underrepresented in our industry in part due to pinch points along a career trajectory. Large numbers of individuals leave the profession due to pressures not experienced by all architects.

GOAL Create policy practices that alleviate pinch-points.

1. Women in mid-career: Document policies to address concerns of flexibility and advancement opportunities.

2. Minorities early-career with financial assistance: AMD will financially participate in student loan assistance programs.

Invest in a Work Environment Focused on Inclusion

Seeking diversity without the hard work of creating an inclusive work environment is bound for failure. We must also commit to create a work environment built on a premise of equity and inclusion.

GOAL Bring focus and intention to ways our work environment can become more inclusive.

1. Reflect diversity in the ways we celebrate together, like holidays and staff gatherings.

2. Review benefits package to identify adjustments that may address the needs of individuals from diverse backgrounds.

3. Create a training program to target improving skills in the development of an inclusive environment within the office and teams. This could include implicit bias, running inclusive meetings, management in a hybrid environment, etc.

Relational Well-being

Colleagues who are connected feel valued, and feel safe to express themselves in the workplace can contribute more and experience greater job satisfaction because of a strong sense of inclusion. We strive to create a welcoming, supportive and collaborative environment where full participation is valued and voices from all backgrounds and perspectives are heard.

As a creative profession, our work is made richer through dialogue and debate; design reviews and pin-ups are the place where the essence of a design take shape. Participation of diverse perspectives in these activities is foundational to bringing forth our best work. By strengthening interpersonal connection and trust in our relationships, we are more able to express thoughts and ideas clearly with respect, vulnerability, and candor.

Psychological safety is a term describing a shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk taking. Teams that feel safe and grounded in their work relationships, are more engaged, productive, and inspired. The responsibility for creating a psychologically safe work environment belongs to us all and requires an awareness and investment to ensure team members feel included and valued. This applies not only to in-house teams, but also clients and collaborators. Characteristics of trust, curiosity, confidence, and inspiration allow team members to become more openminded, resilient, motivated and persistent. This sense of connection and engagement leads to a broader sense of inclusion.

Architecture demands that we iterate, debate, and work diligently to uncover options and ideas that provide our clients with places and buildings that inspire and illuminate our best values. By strengthening a culture that shares ideas with confidence, we strengthen our cumulative capacity.

Psychological safety at work doesn’t mean that everybody is nice all the time. It means that you embrace the conflict, and you speak up, knowing that the team has your back, and you have theirs.

...the relationships and connections we have and how we interact with others.

Clear, Consistent Policies & Enforcement

By clarifying firm guidelines and reinforcing support structures around how we interact with one another, we build trust and confidence in how we can expect our interpersonal interactions to be conducted.

GOAL

Improve clarity and cohesion of firm policies to support relational well-being.

Engage a human resources consultant to assist the firm with current policies. Review to ensure equitable and inclusive current policies, identify any necessary new policies, and to assist with the consistent application. Specifically, the following emerged from the staff survey:

• Clarify process for problem resolution.

• Review onboarding process.

• Review and enhance employee feedback processes inannual reviews, etc.

• Establish and enhance forums to voice concerns, in-person and anonymously.

• Clarify promotional pathways.

Opportunity to Build Social & Professional Connections

Offer regular, varied ways to connect with each other as individuals to increase sense of belonging and connection.

GOAL

Promote opportunities to connect socially to increase inter-personal connections.

1. Place equal importance on social and professional events by identifying a Office Social Calendar manager that is rewarded similarly to other roles like the Stick Lunch or Monday Lunch coordinator.

2. Schedule office-sponsored events at various days/times to offer staff with diverse needs and circumstances to engage. Events should endeavor to provide options for all ages/ genders/diversities.

"[I] wish there was an ‘official’ HR person with the same pull as a Principal, but not an architect. There is no neutral party."

"The Design Fridays are an opportunity for cross-pollination. "

"The unscheduled conversations that occur in the office build camaraderie and support retention."

"Firm culture is built on one-on-one conversations."

"Being more informed bolsters psychological safety, enhances sense of ownership. "

Quotes from Listening Sessions

Build a More Inclusive Design Environment

We are an open studio comprised of many and we offer the brain-trust of our collective people to our clients and communities.

We believe design is about exploration and discovery. As such, our studio space and our process shape a setting which fosters open dialogue and deliberation, and meaningful participation and contribution to the work we do.

The spaces we occupy influence us and can help or hinder the actions we engage. As a design studio we explore ways our own studio environment leads our work. The energy of a studio comes from people, most obviously through dialogue and engagement. The pandemic forced an adaptation to in-person collaboration, which revealed some advantages and some disadvantages. Creative collaboration: pin ups and desk crits, central to our design process, became more challenging to orchestrate and simply stopped happening in large part. We seek ways to bring those activities back to the office to renew the energy and dialogue within the studio. Through reflection and further study, we seek also to uncover ways it can become more inclusive for all staff.

"Pin-ups are a foundation of the culture at AMD. There should be a concerted effort to intentionally change and invite more voices in the design discussions and presentations."

Increase Design Dialogue Within the Studio

Dialogue around design is central to the education of an architect, and therefore embedded in each of us as a meaningful component of what we do. As a design firm, we feed our architectural souls through dialogue and discourse, and find satisfaction in this effort. Production without voice is a “job”. Production in service of an idea over which one feels agency and voice is a career, a drive, a mission, and source of joy.

GOAL

• Invest in the power of our physical environment. Reimagine our physical space to enhance opportunities for dialogue.

• Track and promote “outside the box” design opportunities including:

• Opportunities for design interventions as community service

• Opportunities to participate in competitions

• Review accessibility awareness on all projects; universal design.

• Engage cultural consultants on strategic projects.

Celebrate Design Within Our Studio

Celebrations build company culture, strengthening and bringing focus to the values that are celebrated. By recognizing and appreciating ways design, equity and inclusion occur in the studio, we build a practice of gratitude that strengthens our culture.

GOAL

• Develop internal recognition programs that reinforce the firms mission and culture and highlight equity and inclusion accomplishments.

• Reinforce team building through project-team specific celebrations.

• Appreciation/recognition should occur internally, and on external platforms.

In building a more diverse firm, we must predict that diverse individuals may experience different and perhaps greater barriers to engaging design dialogue. We must consider ways to mitigate it.

Reinforce and promote firm values of design, equity, and inclusion through celebrations and recognition.

Mentoring & Professional Development

The people of AMD are our most valuable asset.

Before the 1800’s any person could become an architect through study and apprenticeship. Learning from one-another remains a foundational part of any architect’s training. Mentoring, as used in this document, refers to the transfer of knowledge, and also the role of coaching to support the confidence and initiative of the individual to be actively engaged in their own growth and knowledge. Our ability to engage mentoring relies upon relationships, proximity, and clarity of agency and expectations.

The importance of day-to-day interaction is essential to our collaborative and iterative process. Team meetings, design reviews, and group pin-ups are important to the studio environment and are some of the richest opportunities for professional growth and mentoring. The most personal and often meaningful mentoring takes place through one-onone relationships, where colleagues get to know one another personally, and that insight often leads to more effective ways of working together or offering insightful advice.

Mentors and, increasingly, sponsors (who use political capital to promote a protégé) are invaluable for career advancement; when they are seen as allies as well, they can help diversify workplaces and build inclusiveness. These relationships can help individuals achieve power, influence, promotions, and increased compensation.

Evaluate & Enhance Mentoring Process

By improving the mentoring process at AMD, we provide staff with the ability to learn faster, access the experience of others, and connect with leaders in the firm.

GOAL Update AMD’s framework for mentoring and incorporate values of equity and inclusion.

1. Organizational chart specific to mentoring.

2. Formalize the role and responsibility of mentors and integrate the role of sponsor.

3. Provide training for mentors.

4. Develop training programs based on annual review form competencies.

5. Provide mentoring resources to support staff growth at all levels.

6. Young staff retreat: design around professional development & invite speakers.

Revamp the Feedback Process

Hindsight is 20-20 and offers us one of our best opportunities to improve together. It is a useful tool to explore ways equity and inclusion can be improved.

GOAL Review

1. Revisit annual review process within broader context of feedback.

2. Review mentor/sponsor growth/feedback processes to ensure they are appropriate & sufficient for all levels.

3. Integrate & normalize the de-brief.

ways feedback occurs now and explore ways it can be improved to address equity and inclusion.

Licensing Support

Licensing is at the core of the professional goals for architectural staff. Support for this effort is central to our mission and values.

Promote Deeper Engagement on Projects for Younger Staff

Early career roles are naturally more likely to jump from project to project due to staffing needs. While every task is an opportunity to learn, by engaging young architects in project teams over longer stretches, opportunities for learning and investment are increased.

GOAL

All employees feel fully supported by the firm in achieving licensure.

1. Provide each employee working towards licensure with a mentor.

2. Firm-provided resources for licensure study materials

3. Ask Emerging Professionals Group for annual recommendations on additional ways licensure can be supported.

GOAL

1. Invite emerging professionals to meetings, copy on emails.

2. Host full-team charrettes and pin ups throughout design.

3. Assign a role to emerging professionals in the projects vs. tasks.

Find ways for staff early in their career to develop deeper understanding of projects through team engagement.

Revamp the Onboarding Process

An employee’s first experience in the office is linked to long-term retention. It is one of the most important ways to establish a sense of inclusion.

GOAL Review onboarding process to improve experience of new employees.

1. Welcome lunch with team principal and peer staff.

2. Prepare for new employee’s arrival in advance; welcome package, welcome plan.

3. Craft shadowing process that engages ‘experts’ in the firm; building connections and informing new staff of available resources.

4. Assign a mentor prior to first day, establish welcome protocol for mentors.

"You don’t have to be an associate to be a mentor."

"Continuity on projects should be prioritized for younger staff, whenever possible."

Quotes from Listening Sessions

Firm Communication

Transparency builds trust.

In building firm culture, trust between employees and leadership is cited repeatedly as the key to a culture that results in greater job satisfaction and commitment to the organization. This trust is built in many ways, perhaps one of the most important is through communication. Transparency can be thought of as being open and honest, directness, and expressing opinions. When consistent, it builds connections between leadership and employees so that leadership is seen as approachable and builds respect.

Transparency is an act that builds upon itself. It can spread to become part of the firm culture, which leads both leaders and employees to feel safe in expressing honest opinions and be open with communication. It is rooted in communication that is consistent, offers reasoning, is open to feedback, is shared openly, and broadly. The implementation of communication that meets these objectives can grow to become something that spreads across project teams at all levels creating a cultural shift.

Building trust through transparency is key to building a people-first culture.

Marketing Communication

High-level understandings of the marketing efforts of the firm helps employees feel vested in the efforts to succeed and provides the opportunity to offer help.

Business Communication

High-level understandings of the health of the firm helps employees feel vested in the efforts to succeed and provides the opportunity to offer help.

GOAL

Establish

• Provide a marketing report, which includes all pursuits regardless of success in obtaining the project, to staff on a regular basis.

• Inform all team members involved in a pursuit of the outcome and any relevant feedback.

• Provide debrief or lessons learned sessions based on marketing pursuits for all staff members

GOAL

Establish or enhance regular communication practices to include employees in understanding the well-being of the firm.

• Improve upon the principal reports at Monday Lunch, including update on basic business topics.

• Provide end of year staff update on the financial health of the firm.

• Establish regular benefits information opportunities. Clarify resources are for particular topics.

• Improve communication around staffing changes (new and departing employees).

more regular communication practices to include employees in the marketing prospects of the firm.

Staffing/ Professional Development Communication

Clear pathways for career development offer employees motivation, boosts engagement, and supports staff independence and agency as they pursue personal growth. This, in tirn, bolsters potential for increased diversity at all levels, especially leadership.

GOAL Clarify and communicate pathways to leadership and project roles and titles.

• Develop training aligned with the competencies identified in the annual review form.

• Create list of competencies associated with each role as described in the AIA salary positions, as used at AMD.

• Review and update the handbook narrative for Senior Associates and Associates to ensure alignment with EDI initiatives

Quotes from Listening Sessions

"Monday Lunch communications have a positive impact on feeling connected to the office."

"If we’re struggling, tell me; we are on board to help. If we are on the cliff’s edge and don’t know, it affects morale and loyalty."

External Values

We recognize diversity as a moral and ethical imperative and acknowledge there are layers of historic and institutional action and intent that underpin the inequities within our society and profession. We also understand and embrace the value of supporting the communities we serve, as a way of building stronger more diverse and equitable community.

In order to construct pathways towards access and opportunity within the architectural profession and beyond, we must make a concerted effort and investment in architects, firms, businesses and vendors from a wide range of historically disadvantaged and underutilized communities. As a mediumsized practice, we have some capacity to make time, energy and financial investments to support BIPOC communities and businesses as part of the day-to-day operations of our studio.

Anderson Mason Dale Architects will make a commitment to invest in the following ways within the communities we serve, work, and live within:

Financial Support to Others

Volunteer Service

Professional Collaboration

Voice/Solidarity

Design Impact

Industry

Engagement

Financial Support to Others

Anderson Mason Dale Architects has a long history of supporting underserved communities, both financially and pro-bono architectural and educational services. Investments have historically focused on providing access to community education opportunities, with a particular focus on children within underserved Front Range communities.

These investments provide critical resources and infrastructure for art programs, library facilities, and after-school programming. We endeavor to build on this ethic of investment by first researching our past contributions and attempting to codify targets and benchmarks for yearly contributions, and by broadening our investment lens to consider additional operating expenses as opportunities to support underserved communities and businesses.

End of Year Contributions

Establish a strategy for end of year contributions.

• Document past contributions and establish financial benchmarks for future contributions.

• Establish clear guidelines for the types of organizations these contributions will support.

• Find an appropriate way to share this financial support with staff and the broader community. It is important to remember all aspects of our EDI plan will become part of AMD’s inclusive culture and, by extension, an important part of recruitment and retention of a diverse staff.

Service Contracts

Target a 20% increase in expense purchases made from minorityowned vendors

• Research past expense purchase distribution to establish a benchmark.

• Target a 20% increase in expense purchases made from minority-owned vendors, including but not limited to: the purchase of food / beverage, landscape services, MEP services, cleaning services and other specialty vendors.

• Review operating expenses annually to ensure target was achieved and/or is achievable moving forward.

• Promote partners through our external platforms.

18.3%

minortiyowned

19.9% womenowned

According to the 2019 Annual Business Survey (ABS), covering reference year 2018, approximately 18.3% (1.0 million) of all U.S. businesses were minorityowned and about 19.9% (1.1 million) of all businesses were owned by women.

Pro-bono Work

Build upon historic support of non-profit institutions.

• Document pro-bono work from past years

• Document ways we have generously served nonprofit institutional guidelines.

• Develop promotional content for pro-bono efforts.

• Highlight pro-bono work and promote organizations we support on our website and social media.

Volunteer Service

Anderson Mason Dale believes that one of the most profound ways to build a deeper understanding, respect and trust with underserved and historically marginalized communities is to spend time working side-byside with the community. This shared experience can be an important first step towards more honest and open dialog and a more complete understanding of the challenges and inequities faced by our communities.

This will not only make our design studio more sensitive to and responsive to our communities, but will also provide direct, tangible support. Out of incredible necessity and strength, many underserved communities have built resilient institutions drawing on a community of strong internal leaders; it is critical to leverage these existing institutions who have long built relationships of trust and respect.

Serving Our Communities

Continue to support and codify process around AMD staff volunteering.

• Track volunteer hours annually through timesheets.

• Update handbook to clarify how employees engage in volunteering.

• Record volunteer work from years past including the DAFCAL program, Habitat for Humanity, Struggle of Love Food Bank, etc.

• Promote volunteer experiences on our website and social media as an intentional recruitment and retention strategy.

Collaborations

Anderson Mason Dale Architects acknowledges that professional mentoring is one of the most valuable resources design practices have for growth and resiliency, and that minority-owned businesses often have more limited access to this type of professional mentoring.

We recognize that our own work and success is only as strong as our regional design community, and we embrace our civic role as an ambassador and advocate for our regional design community. With this said, we commit to seeking professional collaborations with firms that share our design ethos as well as our commitment to service. We seek collaborations as both a mentoring and teaching opportunity as well as an opportunity for our studio to broaden our own design lens and vocabulary.

Building authentic and mutually beneficial relationships with BIPOC businesses will help build a sense of trust, common vocabulary and common purpose within our design community, our clients and our staff, especially as our staff becomes more diverse.

By building a more diverse and inclusive network of collaborators and design partners, our studio will build pathways to future work and future clients that can further reinforce our EDI goals and design culture goals more broadly.

We recognize that promoting BIPOC leaders, will help retain and invigorate a next generation. Many BIPOC leaders have reached points in their career where they have not found tenable pathways for advancement within existing design firms and have ventured out on their own in an effort to create the inclusive and equitable firms that they have long sought. We recognize that supporting and promoting these leaders, will help retain and invigorate a next generation of BIPOC architects and designers who are able to see leaders who look like them within our regional design community.

Research and catalog collaborations from years past.

Document percentages of total design fees represented by MWBE businesses.

Document Owner initiatives and/or thresholds that were part of the solicitation process. Document project types, project values and financial performance of each project.

Promote successful collaborations & collaborators...

on our website and social media as part of our recruitment and retention strategy as well as support for a more diverse regional design community.

Establish a goal to increase MWBE participation...

for projects where criteria is not mandated by owner.

• Establish relationships with 1-2 new MWBE team members per year.

• When building teams, discuss opportunities specific to that project for MWBE collaborators.

• Build a logic for certifications that apply to these metrics.

Voice / Solidarity

Anderson Mason Dale Architects acknowledges that part of building and retaining a more diverse staff is creating a culture where BIPOC staff feel supported, seen and heard, and therefore feel comfortable bringing their entire self to work. We believe that we must offer our voice to issues impacting BIPOC communities to demonstrate our authentic support and solidarity with our BIPOC staff (current and future). This is an important part of building trust and a sense of belonging. We also recognize that building our voice is a practice and it is not easy and we will not always hit the perfect note. This practice will require us to learn, be vulnerable and be open to feedback from within and outside our studio. We also recognize that we are a medium-sized architectural studio and must understand the limits to which our voice can have authentic impact, and frame our engagement accordingly.

Commit to sharing...

articles, projects, volunteer work and collaborations on our website and social media. This is a critical dimension of our recruitment and retention efforts.

Be intentional about developing EDI content.

Create a goal of 10 posts per year focused on EDI content. This may also include but should not be limited to acknowledgment of important historical events, cultural events, holidays, celebrations, 3198 contributions.

Create a

... devoted to EDI contributions, community and cultural events, volunteer opportunities and internal initiatives.

Engage BIPOC advisor on an annual basis...

to review our public and online content and offer feedback specific to impact, authenticity and sensitivity issues, with the goal of building a more robust, nuanced and impactful voice within our design community.

We recognize that building our voice is a practice and it is not easy.

specific ‘chapter’ of 3198

Design Impact

Anderson Mason Dale Architects is committed to seeking work within underserved and marginalized communities, where social equity goals are important project drivers. We see such projects as incredible learning opportunities both as a tool to broaden our design process and as a tool to build meaningful shared experiences and relationships with leaders in our communities.

Seek one social equity focused project per year.

Celebrate past work with a core social justice or equity focus.

Highlight work from years past where social equity goals were critical project drivers. Share community engagement processes and design outcomes with the studio via 3198, our website and social media.

Present one social equity focused project per year in a conference... round-table discussion, panel discussion or community event. Organizations to engage for such presentation may include NOMA, AIA, ULI, DDP and beyond.

Highlight social equity focused projects externally...

on our website and social media, to build a platform of thought leadership within this context.

Add data point to marketing database in Sharepoint to track projects with social equity or social justice focus.

We also endeavor to bring the lens of social equity into as many projects as possible within our studio.

Industry Engagement

Anderson Mason Dale Architects recognizes that participation in BIPOC industry organizations is an important way for our studio to learn and build a more robust dialog around issues of equity, diversity and inclusion. This is also an important way to make it clear to current and prospective staff that we take EDI issues seriously and we are committed to making a real impact within and outside of our studio.

Additionally, our participation in such organizations will help us building a broader network of BIPOC design professionals with whom we may consider mentoring, collaborating, hiring, sponsoring and promoting.

We are also committed to building pathways for students of all ages into creative, design and architectural fields. This includes engagement within K-12 communities and with higher education institutions.

Record past and current commitments & engagements.

• Scholarship at CU Denver School of Architecture

• K-12 and University Internships

• Involvement in NOMA

• Hosting of NOMA Panel Discussions (9/22)

Build

relationships with minorityfocused institutions.

Commit to attending annual career fair events as well as design studio reviews at this institution.

Active membership with National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA).

• Commit to at least 2 active memberships to NOMA annually.

• Commit to at least 1 NOMA committee member annually.

Commit to at least 1 active member of AIA Colorado’s EDI Committee.

Accountability

EDI Committment Oversight Responsibilities

EDI committee is responsible for the execution of the plan. The committee will distribute each effort to the appropriate AMD Group whose focus most closely aligns with the goal. The AMD Group will develop a clear work-plan for accomplishing the goal.

EDI committee to meet quarterly to share updates from Groups with respect to progress on goals and make adjustments as needed to ensure decision making and support is provided to continued progress towards accomplishing the goal.

Annual Scorecard Review & Report

The EDI Committee will use the scorecard that has been updated quarterly to develop an annual report, outlining progress made towards goals, additional work to do.

The EDI Plan will be updated on regular intervals so that the work evolves to align with the need.

I prefer living in color.

- David Hockney

cover inspired by designer Jerry-Lee Bosmans