Design Diversity, an initiative of Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC), is currently developing a tool for guiding short and long term actions toward creating more diverse and culturally relevant design communities. The Design Diversity Index is a tool for gauging the numbers and percentages of people of color in academic programs and professional careers in architecture, landscape architecture, graphic design, and related design disciplines in Ohio. Made possible through the support of The George Gund Foundation, the Index will measure current baseline conditions and annual progress toward expanding racial diversity in the design professions. It will provide a model that can be adopted in other communities and will also link to established national efforts to promote diversity in design.

1. Educate • Connect • Celebrate

2. The index is a tool for measuring progress
toward achieving diversity goals that will
collect, maintain and aggregate data on the
number of African Americans and La<nos from
design schools, programs, and professional
organiza<ons and integrate a range of design
disciplines. This benefits students and parents
by providing aggregated, state-based data from
regional educa<onal ins<tu<ons, and reminds
other stakeholders about the necessity to
increase diversity in design disciplines.
About the Index

3. The Index model will be completed in three
phases of work:
• Inves&gate: conducts a study of exis<ng
educa<onal, research, and professional efforts
to increase African American and La<no
representa<on within design disciplines
• Visualize: focuses on designing the study’s
insights as a visually compelling report and
online Design Diversity Index
• Disseminate: circulates the findings and
generates a model for replication
Project Phases

4. Data Streams
WHO
WE
KNOW
ACCESS
WE
HAVE
WHAT
WE
KNOW

5. A cri<cal component of the inves<ga<on phase
was selec<ng the ins<tu<ons and organiza<ons
that would par<cipate in the project. With Ohio
having more than 250 educa<onal ins<tu<ons,
the loca<ons central to Northeast Ohio quickly
became the first criteria of selec<on. The next
component used for selec<on was the degree
offered from an educa<onal ins<tu<on.
• Loca<on—Group 1/green, Group 2/orange
and Group 3/blue
• Terminal Degrees— Associates, Bachelors
and Masters
Criteria

6. • Public Universi=es
• Public Community Colleges
• Private & Forprofit Ins=tu=ons
Group 1
7
5B
5A
1A
1B
8
9B
9A9C
9D
9E
5
3
8
6
10
2
4 7
9
1
1C

7. Gathering informa<on on these programs has
become a significant component of this
project’s data. To date we have uncovered four
different types of youth programs:
• Na<onally Funded Programs
• Community Based Youth Programs
• Educa<onal Enrichment Programs
• College & Career Readiness
Youth Programs

8. Learn more about this project at designdiversity.org or contact the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative.
THANK YOU