ASLA Diversity Summit 2015 Report

ASLA HQ, Washington, D.C

Introduction and Key Takeaways
In year three of the ASLA Diversity Summit, participants new and returning were eager to capitalize on the success of previous summits and move forward with concrete action items discussed in years one and two.

While landscape architecture remains a small profession employing just 21,600, according to estimates by the U.S. Bureau of Labor, the demographics within the profession do not match the racial and ethnic demographics of the country. This discrepancy will only become increasingly glaring as the minority population across the U.S. continues to grow.

In 2043, the U.S. is projected to become a majority-minority nation for the first time. Minorities, now 37 percent of the U.S. population, are projected to make up 57 percent of the population in 2060. The total minority population will more than double, from 116.2 million to 241.3 million over the period. To remain relevant and able to serve the country’s increasingly diverse communities, landscape architecture needs to become a more ethnically and culturally diverse profession.

In year one, the diversity summit focused primarily on understanding why diversity is an issue within the profession and first steps in an action plan; year two focused on ongoing and new strategies for early exposure and creating a mentorship model; and year three continued that discussion with new voices.

The key focus areas for the 2015 summit, which were identified in the previous year, were 1) raising general public awareness (with an emphasis on minority parents); 2) early exposure to the profession; and 3) mentorship, with special focus on implementing the group’s mentorship model to introduce students in grades K-12 to the profession and help feed BLA and MLA programs.

All participants from year one returned for the second year, joined by six new participants. The majority of the summits consisted of facilitated group brainstorming, the results of which were continually narrowed to create an action plan. This format continued in year three as participants were broken into three groups, each with a blend of new and returning participants. The weekend alternated between substantial time in these breakout groups and group report-back/discussion time.

During the 2015-2016 year, ASLA will further refine the 360-degree mentorship model established in year two and pursue several new initiatives that capitalize on ASLA’s existing connections to organizations with similar missions. Leveraging connections with individual chapters, universities, schools, and other design-related non-profits was recognized as a crucial step toward promoting diversity within the profession. Exploring the feasibility of a solid mentorship pilot program that can be tested and documented is also a high priority for the next 12 months, as is working with individual chapters to craft a toolkit that can be used to engage K-12 students and college landscape architecture students.

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