Let’s keep showing up

YAF Chair’s message: Let’s keep showing up

Twelve months ago, I sat down to write my contribution to Connection’s annual equity, diversity, and inclusion issue. As the then-vice chair of the Young Architects Forum, it gave me a chance to reflect on what was an incredibly disruptive year for our committee and for the world. After the turbulence of 2020, I’m sure I’m not the only person who was hoping for a quieter and steadier 2021. Instead, we’ve had to continue to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, a bitterly divisive political landscape, and a new series of natural disasters.

At the YAF’s Annual Meeting in January, we committed to prioritizing three broad themes throughout our work this year. These included climate action, practice innovation, and J.E.D.I., or justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. J.E.D.I. has been a core value and priority of our committee since at least 2018, when the MeToo movement rippled through the profession, but it became front and center in 2020 as we grappled with the systemic inequities present in our society and our profession.

But while we have made progress, it has often felt slow. NCARB reported a significant decrease in the number of candidates who logged professional experience, who started on the path to licensure, and who became new architects in 20201. Workplace challenges related to the pandemic have led to unprecedented burnout among American workers, which has spurred a “great resignation” 2. And while we are finally talking more openly about mental health, that new level of transparency does not mitigate the real feelings of stress and languor that so many of us are facing. These setbacks will continue to impact the demographics and culture of the profession well into the future.

And yet, despite the ongoing challenges, emerging professionals and young architects continue to show up every day to drive change within the AIA. Members of the Young Architects Forum presented the Emerging Professional Friendly Firm program at AIA Grassroots in February and are working to roll out the program in several new components this year. The YAF advocacy work group is hosting a series of webinars on AIAU. I encourage everyone to watch the recording of our Aug. 13 session, “So You Want to Design for All? Designing for Belonging,” which featured an engaging conversation with architects who are committed to design that works toward more equitable development. The YAF community director, Katelyn Chapin, is a member of the AIA’s Equity and the Future of Architecture board committee this year, where she served on the selection committee for Next to Lead, a program that aims to remove barriers to AIA leadership positions for ethnically diverse women. And YAF made the decision to transition from a regional-governance structure to a state-based model beginning in 2022. This new model will provide over twice as many opportunities for engagement for young architects from all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., and the international component.

While it is important to look back on our accomplishments to remind ourselves of the progress we’ve made, the critical question to ask ourselves is, “What comes next?” Young architects are poised to lead change within the AIA and within our firms. But we cannot make strides toward a more equitable and inclusive profession unless we continue to show up every day, even when it feels hard. And even when the challenges seem overwhelming. Because progress happens one step at a time.

Footnotes: [1]: https://www.ncarb.org/nbtn2021/covid19 [2]: https://tinyurl.com/3ucrxvbu

Abigail R. Brown, AIA

Brown is an senior associate at Hickok Cole in Washington, D.C., where she works as a project architect on multifamily and mixed-use projects. She serves as the 2021 YAF chair.