Where Are the Resources? Where Are the Leaders?

Recently, I have been working on some ideas that have been swirling around in my head. As part of my basic research, I did a simple Google search for black community development organizations that are nationwide. The results were abysmal; most of the pages that showed up were articles or pages of loosely related content. Ok, so maybe my search was too broad, so I keyed in a search for Black Community Developers. One reliable source came up and that was small development company that specific to the city of Little Rock in Arkansas. So what is the big deal you may ask?

Well.....

Let's take a look at our communities; those communities in major cities that are overlooked, neglected, and downtrodden are generally majority minority communities that are lacking the resources that they need to strive. Now, let's think back to the Civil Rights Era and the organizations that existed with the sole purpose of fighting for equality; the NAACP, the National Urban League, Congress of Racial Equality, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, National Council of Negro Women, and other local and regional organizations all existed with the purpose of seeking a better way of life for minorities. So today, in 2010, what organizations are in the national limelight that are actively fighting for better communities for minorities? What organization is taking strides in promoting healthy, livable, walkable, sustainable, and just communities across the country? Better yet, what leader(s) are tackling these issues? What leaders do our communities have on the Martin Luther King/DuBois level?

What is it going to take to get back to that level of activism?

Minorities in Architecture and Planning

America has made great strides in equality in this country. We have more minorities than ever employed in fields that were traditionally segregated. We have more minorities in top positions in Fortune 500 companies. We even have a minority president. But does this mean that we have reached that ideal level of equality?


In the article, Blacklisted: Is failing to plan with minority architects, in fact, planning to fail?, the author discusses the lack of representation of minorities in the architecture, planning, and landscape architecture related fields. Even though it makes sense to have minority planners and developers represent their own communities that is not what is happening. Planning can be very political in nature and because of that, there exist certain barriers that are harder to overcome.

Minorities in these professions have to prove themselves worthy before they can become successful professionals. Students who attend HBCUs are faced with a different set of problems. Lack of resources, lack of professional guidance, lack of modern equipment and a host of others are all problems that are guaranteed to arise during a student's academic career at an HBCU. Tuskegee University, a program founded on the belief that architectural mastery can combat oppression, lost its accreditation.

The battle is a continuous battle to fight for architectural, planning, and development equality if there isn't a loud enough, and skilled enough collective voice within these communities.

Transferring from an HBCU Graduate Program in CREP, I experienced these same flaws and shortcomings in my program. I transferred to another institution and have seen a remarkable difference in the quality of resources given to us to work with.
My thoughts: Before we can adequately address the discrepancies in minority communities, we should address the educational foundation that is being laid for the profession.