Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee

In 2020, ASID Wisconsin initiated a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee by calling for volunteers. What’s your first reaction? No doubt, it is a bunch of feelings, opinions, and more. As a part of ASID's ongoing strategic plan at both the state and national level, our volunteers understood from the onset that the journey would need to begin with education. To affect meaningful change, there was preliminary work to be done in learning, analyzing, and reflecting.

Working from a core group of exercises, our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee began with education on a breadth of topics from implicit bias and microaggressions to acknowledging privilege and unlearning racism. We read articles and books; We watched videos and movies; We listened to podcasts. We attended a guest talk with Jen Francis, the Director of Campus Planning at UW-Milwaukee. She addressed issues of racism, gender bias, and harmful systemic structures. We talked. We shared. We created a safe space. At times, the growth through our sessions felt significant, then stopped us in our tracks with its brevity.

How do diversity, equity, and inclusion impact ASID members? Interior designers interact with diverse people and projects. We have a duty to understand our clients, fulfill their needs, and impact all lives within the interior environment. Equity work, at the most basic level, has the power to help us communicate with people different from ourselves. With a more concentrated focus on equity, we can expand our industry’s student base, talented designers, and customers. The return on investment in equity work is limitless. We must work together to create spaces that are not only welcoming but universally belonging.

In response to our identified challenges, we have created the following objectives:

• Educating our member base by amplifying the voices of underrepresented members of the design community
• Establishing equitable best practices in committee and member recruitment
• Build the next generation of the design community by partnering with local organizations to expose underrepresented youth to the world of design

We are using this page to let you know we are here. We have a lot more in store, and we invite you to this inclusive space. Here, we respect everyone. We are actively listening and working to bring Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to ASID WI, the interior design profession, and the public.

ASID Wisconsin’s DEI committee is run as a group collaborative effort with shared responsibility amongst volunteers. We hold open meetings on a regular monthly basis; for more information, please apply to join! ASID members and non-members are welcome. 

• Stay tuned for upcoming events!

• ABHM Building Tour of America’s Black Holocaust Museum. If you were unable to make the event you can view the gallery exhibits and current museum hours here: https://www.abhmuseum.org/galleries/
• CANstruction Milwaukee: Public Awards Presentation – Learn more HERE

 

How does what we are working on align with the overall chapter goals as well as national goals? We have taken sections of the Chapter Strategic Plan; highlighting DEI specific initiatives.

Goal A: Advance the value of the interior design profession

Local Strategies:

Build and Expand the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee by: 

1. Facilitating collaborative approach both with and outside the chapter to seek out and learn from diverse perspectives 
2. Offering opportunities for participation, leadership, and growth equitably.
3. Partnering with divergent local organizations and schools to educate the next generation about the world of design. 

Goal B: Advocate for the value the interior design profession brings to the design of human-centered environments

Local Strategies:

1. Design Awards Committee and Gala Event:

1. Reevaluate categories for Design Awards to ensure alignment with the ASID Statement on Climate, Health, and Equity:
   1. Addressing DEI issues:
   2. (firms that are either designing for disadvantaged populations or offering opportunities to designers from non-dominant backgrounds leadership roles) 

2.  potential rising star award (Highlighting a designer in the first 10 years of the career path)
3. Student of the year (student from our state that is acknowledged as a rising star, might be going out-of-state but shows great promise-from any of the CIDA accredited schools.

• Looking for additional resources and information? Click HERE.

`f – Indicates a founding committee member