July 2020
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Publisher’s Message In the statement, she writes, “We are calling on our members and our broader professional community to condemn racism and take an active role in eliminating the racial biases that account for a myriad of social, economic, and health disparities.” You can read more excerpts in her message below. Anastasia Barnes These past four weeks have been incredibly profound and challenging for our nation. The Black Lives Matter movement has sparked a global conversation about race in our country, and individuals and organizations are looking internally at how they’re contributing to the narrative and what they can do to take responsibility, including High-Profile.
“We are calling on our members and our broader professional community to condemn racism and take an active role in eliminating the racial biases that account for a myriad of social, economic, and health disparities.” – Kimberly Dowdell
Kimberly Dowdell, president of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), shared a powerful statement on NOMA’s website recently.
In this issue, we’ve included news from some local organizations that are stepping up their commitment to focus on diversity and inclusion, including the Boston Planning and Development Agency and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.
ACHIEVE THE FUTURE. PLAN TODAY.
Recently, we have seen a surge of positive cases of COVID-19 in many states across our nation. At the same time, there has been a lot of discussion around folks coming back to the workplace and what that will look like for the employees, employers, property managers, etc. Cynthia P. Martinez’s article on page 12 gives a nice perspective on what the future will look like from the employee perspective. I also encourage you to take a look at our recent webinar with Tim Bailey and Jason Costello of Margulies Perruzzi discussing how their firm tackled this very thing and how they are working with their clients on reconfiguring workspaces. Visit https://www.high-profile.com/hpconnects/ to watch. Lastly, we’re excited to announce
that we have hired five new interns, all extraordinary women from diverse backgrounds. I will do everything within my ability to elevate, educate and support these future young leaders. Read about these young women on page 13! I’m happy to share our July 2020 issue with you all. This month our themes are Life Sciences (page 14) and Industry Awards (page 19). The Boston Society of Landscape Architects awards were recently announced and will be highlighted in the August 2020 edition. As always, enjoy the read!
Anastasia Barnes
NOMA Issues Public Statement Regarding Racial Injustice The following are excerpts from a statement issued by the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) on May 31. by Kimberly Dowdell
STRATEGIC PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR LIFE SCIENCES
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The air in our nation is thick with a profound sense of grief and despair. Our collective air is so very thick that it’s literally hard to breathe. We struggle to grasp for air as we all navigate a global pandemic coupled with the deadly and pervasive virus called racism that has plagued America for over four centuries. As the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), we are calling on our members and our broader professional community to condemn racism and take an active role in
eliminating the racial biases that account for a myriad of social, economic, and health disparities, and most importantly, result in the loss of human lives – Black lives. As architects, we are professionally responsible for protecting the health, safety and welfare of the public. The tragic execution of Black Americans at the hands of people infected by racism has plagued our nation for generations. As architects, how can we protect the health, safety and welfare of the public if our country is not properly including Black Americans as full members of our society? Black Americans and other people of color have been subjected to injustice and inequality for far too long. NOMA was founded in Detroit by twelve continued to page 11