Diversity

Vision:

More just and equitable communities that enable opportunity, quality of life, and a sense of belonging for all; a more diverse planning profession working together to make this vision a reality.

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Mission:

To increase diversity and cultural competency within the planning profession and provide a resource for planners of different backgrounds in the NY Metro Area to build meaningful connections and share ideas.

Goals/Objectives:

• Foster a welcoming environment, safe space and community for planners of varied backgrounds to share experiences, find mentorship, personally/professionally grow, and make deep connections.
• Actively address barriers to recruitment and retention of underrepresented peoples in the profession, including but not limited to people of color, women, and LGBTQ-identifying individuals. This includes assisting the national APA’s Diversity Task Force in implementing objectives towards improving diversity, and turning the lens on the planning profession.
• Serve as a resource of information on diversity and planning issues, success stories, events, leadership training, workshops, etc., especially for institutions.
• Work together with other APA NY Metro committees, sections, and national divisions to ensure that content of programs include diverse voices/panels and cover concepts of equity and inclusivity.

HINDSIGHT CONFERENCE: The final Hindsight™ was in 2021. Here’s why from the official Hindsight™ website:

“After four incredible years of Hindsight™, we are bittersweetly announcing 2021 as our fifth and final year of this annual conference. We, the founders and organizers, want to preserve DivComm as a community that provides a safe and generative space for our members and offer other programming, without the weight of organizing a major, expanding conference every year. This year’s virtual conference will merge with and serve as the APA New York Metro Chapter Annual Conference–a tangible and symbolic act of incorporating the equity principles at the core of Hindsight™ into the core of the chapter. In this finale, we are inviting the public to take the equity principles behind Hindsight™ and apply it to all future planning conferences and events. We hope this finale ultimately reminds you to dream big and take collective action to create the change you want to see. We look forward to celebrating and seeing what you manifest next!”

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Lagging Behind: Ethnic Diversity in the Planning Profession in the APA New York Metro Chapter Area — Findings and Recommendations: An APA New York Metro Chapter study of the planning profession in the New York metropolitan area shows the profession has a long way to go to reflect the communities it serves. It shows that the profession appears to be slowly growing more diverse since 1990, but not at the same pace or in the same way as the region. An APA Chapter Presidents Council Award to the New York Metro Chapter in 2000 made the study possible.

Elephant in the Planning Room: Overcoming Barriers to Recruiting and Retaining Planners of Color in the NY Metro Area (2016): A City & Regional Planning graduate thesis on diversity in the planning profession in the New York Metro Area, focusing on race, gender, and other intersectionalities. The study shows that 15 years later, the profession is becoming less representative of NY Metro Area communities. The study outlines a literature review of the significance of diversity, and explores quantitative and qualitative data based on over 300 survey respondents and interviews with almost 50 planners of color, employers/managers, and allies. The study provides a ten-dimension framework to understand the barriers to recruitment and retention of people of color in planning. The report also includes a set of tangible recommendations for improving diversity that employers/managers planning institutions, schools, planners of color, and White planners seeking to become allies could implement.