Our Department JEDI Committee
Year End Reflection
On behalf of the Landscape Architecture department, the JEDI Committee would like to acknowledge that these onerous and tragic times of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, blatant attacks on human rights nationally and globally, and racially motivated murders of BIPOC people, continue to impact our ability to show up and remain energized and hopeful in our day to day lives.
Particularly in these times of difficulty, we must find strength in community, support in one another and for ourselves. Whether that means community at the College of Built Environments or communities across the country, we urge you to show up for your values and uplift those most vulnerable in the ways that you are able to for mutual aid and collective growth. Remember that self care and community care are intertwined, and that even the smallest of actions can have a deep impact!
With immense gratitude, we thank you for showing up however you did, with whatever capacity you were able to this past academic year. We wish you a restful and reenergizing summer break and look forward to seeing you in Autumn.
We would also like to offer the following resources from the Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center and UW Bothell for continued personal support:
- Mental health resources: https://www.washington.edu/counseling/
- Buffalo Rising: https://www.buffalorising.com/2022/05/how-to-help-a-community-rocked-by-tragedy/
- Antiracism resources for non-Black students of color: https://www.washington.edu/counseling/culture-of-care/resources-for-non-black-individuals-and-communities-of-color/
- Resources for Black students: https://www.washington.edu/counseling/culture-of-care/resources-for-black-individuals-and-communities/
- Resources for white students: https://www.washington.edu/counseling/culture-of-care/resources-for-white-individuals-and-communities/
- UW Bothell’s Responding to Tragedy resources: https://www.uwb.edu/sea/socialjustice/tragedy-response
UWLA Department Updates
Comments from the JEDI Jam event have been logged, and can be found here, including those added during the one week of extended posting on the 3rd floor of Gould. Our committee has started to thematically group comments, which will lead to a report that summarizes and guides next steps for our department. This work will extend to the summer and be finalized by Autumn quarter in time to inform our Department Strategic Planning process being launched in the next academic year.
In the meantime, based on continued discussion of these results and thinking about how to better embed JEDI principles into our department culture, we are prioritizing conversations around orientation and how to engage some of these issues at the beginning of the student experience. This will be discussed at the department’s Faculty retreat, and planning will occur in tandem with CBE and department orientation scheduling. As we get ready to launch programming for next year, keep your eyes out for an email at the end of the summer with opportunities and events to help welcome new students and kick off the school year!
Student Project Feature – Yes Farm Charrette
The Black Farmers Collective (BFC) is working to develop a 1.5 acre urban farm in Yesler Terrace for community building, educational programming and growing a Black-led farm co-op. Led by UW CEP graduate, Shabazz Abdulkadir, with the help of MLA candidates Leila Jackson (MLA ’23)and Jiahua Zou (MLA ’22), BFC is working to design more welcoming and accessible entrances to the YES farm. On May 7th, landscape architecture students, faculty and professionals gathered for a design charrette to discuss and identify opportunities for improving the North entrance of the farm.
A second charrette will take place this Saturday, June 4th, and volunteers are needed. Read on for more information!
When: Saturday, June 4th, 2022 (12-4pm)
Where: YES Farm, Yesler Terrace
Sign Up: Here
The Black Farmers Collective: The Black Farmers Collective is a non-profit organization based in the Central District whose goal is to build a Black-led food system. BFC has created an urban farm (YES farm) on Yesler Way and S Washington Street. Yes Farm has developed over the last 5 years as a place to grow food for mutual aid efforts to feed diverse communities, grow community among the diverse residents of the area where they can experience a bit of nature in an ever urbanizing landscape, and grow learning opportunities as we host educational programs for youth and adults.
The Project: The Black Farmers Collective is working to design and build the landscape around the YES farm south and north entrances. I-5 borders the farm on the west and the redevelopment of Yesler terrace on the East. Our goal is to brighten the landscape for walkers, drivers and residents on S. Jackson Street. The design would include an ADA ramp providing access at the North Entrance of the Farm.
CBE Diversity Council Updates
CBE BIPOC Lunch
Mark your calendars and please join us on Thursday, June 2nd at 12 PM for this quarter’s College-wide BIPOC lunch event! We will be serving banh mi sandwiches from Saigon Deli again along with other refreshments and hope to see you there!
Take a break from all the hard work you are putting in and treat yourself to some yummy food and community! We are asking that folks RSVP no later than Tuesday, May 31st using the Google form linked here so that we have an accurate count for food.
EDIfy Movie Night
On May 18th, the CBE Diversity Council offered the College’s first EDI Movie Night, EDIfy. As Construction Management Professor Carrie Dossick noted after attending the event:
“It was a collection of films that spanned an array of topics – arcing from how the institutions of the federal, state, and local governments shaped housing for Black Americans in the US, to the experiences of native and indigenous populations and their relationships to the land and their ancestral homes, to experiences of growing cities and cities besieged by war.
The series brought up the concept of home and how we define home, how we capture personal and collective histories and what we value in terms of recording and connecting history and culture, and a sense of well-being and identity. It brought up the challenges when cultural values clash starkly with the tensions between different notions of land, land ownership, and land stewardship.”
THe CBE Diversity Council plans another EDI Movie Night next year.
CBE EDI Strategic Plan
The CBE Diversity Council has launched an EDI Strategic Planning Process for the College. We have been working with the guidance of EDI Consultant and Professor Anu Taranath. It will articulate the EDI mission and vision for the college and outline a set of aspirational goals for the college to help move the college culture to a more inclusive place. A first draft will be released for review in the upcoming academic year.
UWASLA Updates
Youth Outreach
In the month of May, UWASLA Youth Outreach Project: Empowering BIPOC Youth: Pathways to Sustainable Design Futures worked with the Duwamish River Community Coalition (DRCC) Youth Corps on a design mock studio to redesign Jack Block Park.
Each workshop began with a presentation regarding the day’s topic, then in smaller teams, the youth collaborated on completing an activity that was related to Jack Block Park and the topic of the day. Workshop activities included a CBE Student Panel, a site visit, and a charrette, and covered topics including environmental justice, the ecology of the PNW and water justice.
As of May 31, UWASLA Youth Outreach has completed this year’s objectives, and successfully worked with two different student cohorts: Denny International Middle School and DRCC Youth Corps.
Professional Advisory Council (PAC) JEDI Committee
About
Did you know that the department’s Professional Advisory Council (PAC) has its own JEDI Committee? The mission of this Committee is “to provide a just, equitable, diverse and inclusive forum where
students and professionals from all backgrounds, and having a range of perspectives and life experiences are welcomed and supported. The committee’s work fosters this culture of justice and inclusivity both within the Professional Advisory Committee and in the larger academic and professional spheres it touches.”
This year, several members of the PAC JEDI Committee attended our JEDI Jam and a representative has been regularly joining our weekly Department JEDI Committee meetings to find more ways to collaborate in department events and help steer our JEDI work.
Ask the PAC: JEDI Pizza Party – Event Recap
The PAC JEDI Committee would like to thank the students and the department for a great Ask the PAC: JEDI Pizza Party on Friday May 20th. The evening was wonderful, filled with important questions, engaging conversation about equity in practice, and pizza! Students are encouraged to continue using the Ask the PAC Teams Channel to send along any questions related to equitable practice within landscape architecture. Stay tuned for similar events in the future. Special thanks to Vanessa for helping
Upcoming Events
Gardens for BIPoC
Graham Visitor Center, Washington Park Arboretum
Ongoing, Monthly
Schedule, urbhort@uw.edu
Gardens for BIPoC is a new, free monthly tour that takes place in the Washington Park Arboretum, serving folks that identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or a person of color. These groups have historically been underrepresented and underserved in public garden programs. We hope that our free tours can help remove some barriers BIPoC folks may have to accessing our gardens as well as create a safe and inviting space for BIPoC to connect with one another in nature!
Our tours include a casual walk through various areas of the Washington Park Arboretum, feature seasonal viewing of collections plants, explorations of botany, and the cultural significance and history of each plant for the BIPoC community will be highlighted along with the history of the UW Botanic Gardens.
UW Botanic Gardens is committed to enriching the lives of all community members with free public tours. Our 1st Thursday Free Arboretum Walking Tours are also guided walks through the Arboretum and open to the general public.
Registration is not required for these tours, but are on a first come, first serve basis.
EXHIBIT: Americans Incarcerated: A Family’s Story of Social Injustice
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art
550 Winslow Way, E Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Exhibit open through June 12, 10am – 5pm
Everett-based artists Jan and Chris Hopkins collaborate on this continually-evolving project to memorialize the impact of Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the mass evacuation and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. This award-winning exhibition overlaps with the 80th Anniversary of the Japanese American Exclusion from Bainbridge Island.
One Seattle: Re-establishing housing diversity in Seattle’s Neighborhoods
Gould Hall (GLD)
Mon, Jun 6, 2:30 – 6pm
Link to register for online access
Please join Associate Professor Rick Mohler, Instructor Matt Hutchins, and students for an overview presentation, exhibit and open house featuring work from the UW Architecture 508 Graduate Research Studio exploring “missing middle” housing typologies in Neighborhood Residential Zones in five Seattle neighborhoods. This work is inspired by and intended to inform the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan Update, which is underway and will be completed in 2024.
In order to attend the online Overview Presentation, please register and we’ll send you a Zoom link the day of the event. After the Presentation, there will be an Exhibit and Open House in Gould Hall with light refreshments.
