Centering Diversity Summit

Members of the JEDI Committee worked with many people within the landscape community in Ohio to organize the inaugural Centering Diversity Summit, held for the first time in October 2022 across two locations simultaneously; the Knowlton School at The Ohio State University, and the Cleveland Urban Design Collective at Kent State University. The goal of the summit was to collectively synthesize efforts that are happening across landscape architecture firms, organizations, and universities, as well as allied fields in Ohio. The summit was not tied to any specific organization such as ASLA or the universities; it was a grassroots initiative that pulled students, practitioners and educators all together. Throughout the day, the participants were engaged in panel discussions and interactive workshop sessions where they brainstormed how the future of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for landscape architecture in Ohio could take shape. Organizers of the summit disseminated findings from research that they have collected from 2021-2022 across university, state and national levels.

The data collected analyzed issues such as race and gender, licensure and survey results, combining both quantitative and qualitative data.  Afterwards, participants debriefed during a happy hour and had the opportunity to network and share their experiences. The Summit was a great success, with active participation and engaging conversation from over 70 attendees, most of whom were Ohio Chapter members. Continuing the momentum of the summit, the organizers created an online database through Miro where we will continue to engage participants, share feedback, and collaborate. Based on feedback from the participants, this summit will be held annually, in addition to a working group that will host happy hours/dinner socials, fundraising, K-12 enagement and research/data collection.

Links:

Miro Board: Centering Diversity Summit Miro Board

Columbus 2022 Recordings: Columbus Combined Sessions and Roundtables

Facebook: Centering Diversity: Landscape Architecture in Ohio | Facebook

Instagram: Ohio Landscape JEDI (@centering_diversity)