D×D INTENSIVES

A significant challenge faced by many design programs serving Black and Brown students is a lack of industry partnership opportunities, creating critical gaps in tangible experience and limiting crucial networking, internship, and employment opportunities.

Industry-wide systemic structures have created and supported hiring practices that directly contribute to the lack of racial diversity in the design and architecture professions. It’s these very practices that continue to hinder the creation of truly equitable and inclusive environments that will ultimately support, attract, and retain a diverse workforce. It's a vicious cycle that needs breaking.

In just three semesters, D×D Intensives' proven framework has already started to expand opportunities for students and catalyze change within industry design departments.

The program offers students industry experience that hones their critical thinking, teamwork, and collaboration skills; helps build their portfolios; and connects them to career designers, establishing those all-important initial threads of a network, while also giving industry the long overdue and much needed opportunity to embrace diverse perspectives and start the hard work of creating inclusive environments.

In partnership with forward-thinking organizations like San Francisco State University; Lehman College, CUNY; Delta Dental; and Workday, 183 students, 53 industry mentors, and 6 educators have participated in D×D Intensives over 6 cohorts.

The program has opened up crucial networking, internship, and employment opportunities for our student participants. At the same time, it has deepened how our industry partners understand and integrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within their organizations.

And we're just getting started!



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If you're interested in helping us grow D×D Intensives by bringing it to your organization or educational institution, we'd love to hear from you.