Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Network: Racial Bias by Design

We are excited to kick-off this new BSA Knowledge Community bringing people together around the issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Please join YWBoston facilitator Dr. Sarah Faude in a presentation and discussion, “Racial Bias by Design.” The session covers the impact AI and algorithms on issues of racial and gender bias in our industry and in our lives. Please come prepared to share as we begin to examine the work of creating “a world with more ethical and inclusive technology.”

To provide additional context: current events have brought to the surface racial and gender inequities that have existed in our communities for centuries. At BSA, we have been striving to be a more equitable organization internally and to move the industry in this direction. Over the past few months, we have been in talks with YW Boston, a nonprofit focused on racial and gender equity, about opportunities to move this work forward together.

Annually, YW Boston leads a Stand Against Racism campaign, inspiring individuals and workplaces to take action to eliminate racism. The idea of them leading a conversation on AI, algorithms, and bias arose out of this campaign, before the recent killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. We intentionally decided to stick with the original topic, vs. pivot to a current events related content. We hope that this topic will help illuminate nuances of inequities we hadn’t previously seen and will challenge us to think what each of us as individuals and within our organizations can do regularly to interrupt the patterns of inequities.

Please see YW Boston’s website to learn more about their deeper diversity, equity, and inclusion work. Please contact the BSA to learn more and contribute to our anti-racism work.

Up next, on Tuesday, June 30, join the Boston Society for Architecture (BSA) for a facilitated conversation on Intercultural Competence, the first chapter of the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice. This session will be equal parts presentation and discussion.

Chairs

Dan Ricardelli AIA / [email protected]

Rachel Zsembery AIA / [email protected]