In honor of Women's History Month and International Women's Day, BSA staff is proud to present our staff picks highlighting the rich and varied contributions of women in our community, our profession, and our world.

In today's climate of racial reckoning, it's fitting for Moody Nolan, the nation's largest African American-owned architecture firm, to be honored with the 2021 Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The annual award is the highest honor the AIA bestows on an architecture practice. The award recognizes a firm that has consistently produced distinguished architecture for at least 10 years. This is the first time a Black-owned architecture firm has ever received the award in the AIA's 58 years of conducting the annual recognition.

Hosted virtually on December 2, 2020, the 2020 Women in Design Award of Excellence ceremony featured presentations by the three awardees, Kathryn Crockett AIA, LEED AP; Lynne Deninger AIA, LEED AP BD+C; and Cheri Ruane, FASLA.

This week’s elections weigh heavily on all of us. Regardless of our political preferences, we believe there is tremendous work to focus on toward making a resilient, equitable, just, and architecturally vibrant city and region.

At the third annual Housing Innovation Workshop, “Distributed Density: Middle-Scale Housing for Sustainable Communities'', participants were asked to apply an anti-racist lens to their proposed solutions and strategies to address the ways in which racially exclusionary policies have materialized as barriers to the creation of multifamily housing today.

The BSA EDI Network is proud to release a collection of firm sample policies, practices, and procedures for reference while shaping your own policies to encourage equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace. All are invited to reference these firm policies in updating your procedures to establish a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace.

Congratulations to the 2020 recipients of the Women in Design Award of Excellence Kathryn Crockett AIA, LEED AP; Lynne Deninger AIA, LEED AP BD+C; and Cheri Ruane, FASLA.

Conversations about racial equity have stimulated new ways of thinking about diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. As architects, we have substantial work to do within our own profession to include, mentor, sponsor, and provide leadership opportunities for BIPOC architects. Our contributions to our clients, our communities, and our world suffer because of the narrow breadth of viewpoints and life experiences within our profession. We need to act now. Please be one the voices to help us create meaningful change.