- Increase investment in anti-racism and diversity education through internal lectures and training workshops
- Provide resources to team members focused on how to be an advocate for change through individual actions and civic engagement
- Facilitate opportunities for discussions such as small group lunches and a book club to discuss issues of race.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Hord Coplan Macht
Hord Coplan Macht was founded on principles of fairness, empathy and community, and we take pride in the way our firm culture has always embodied these values. As with everything we do, we are striving to improve, and we realize the need to push forward our tenets and focus our attention even more on anti-racism. We recognize that the legacy of centuries of social and economic injustice continues to afflict our society. We acknowledge that implicit bias and systemic privilege are pervasive issues that need to be tackled in order to achieve meaningful change. We know we must do our part to amplify the voice of communities that have historically been marginalized and discriminated against. We understand that, in order to engage in non-optical allyship, anti-racism must be a consideration in each of our interactions and decisions. There can be no tolerance for any form of racism at any level or in any community.
There is an abundance of resources available to each of us on the history of, and current issues with, civil rights and anti-racism. Our goal is to listen, learn, and do the work required of us as a firm to educate ourselves on the experiences of BIPOC individuals in this country and our profession.
We stand as advocates for missing and marginalized communities. In our profession and as individuals, we aspire to do more to eliminate inequality, support social justice, and change systems built on racism. At HCM, we have always believed that pluralism, through inclusion and advancement of diverse colleagues, inherently makes us a better firm due to the breadth of perspective that comes with it.
Since the firm’s inception more than 40 years ago, equity and inclusion have been at the core of HCM. We seek to continue and build upon the extensive work we do with institutions and non-profit organizations to serve our communities, including collaborations over the years with BIPOC-owned businesses and institutional leaders.
Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (“EDI”) Action Team, in partnership with HCM’s senior leadership, is committed to a broad set of actions and initiatives that are intended to produce meaningful change. The mission of the EDI Action Team is to cultivate a diverse environment at HCM; to promote within the field of design, architecture and landscape architecture the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g., based on race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity); and to enhance the experience of our colleagues, clients and communities through ever more equitable design practices.
Education
Outreach and Community Engagement
- Build upon our existing Discovery Studio programming to create educational opportunities for K-12 students from underrepresented backgrounds in the design profession
- Expand mentoring across all offices to middle school and high school students in under-served communities.
- Cultivate broader and closer relationships with WBE/MBE companies
- Partner with community engagement specialists for applicable projects.
- Increase equitable design solutions in our cities and communities to create positive experiences for communities that suffer from racial or social injustice.
- Emphasize equitable design practices and challenge systemic inequities through environmental and design justice.
- Promote community-based design practices that incorporate empathy and celebrating history of place.
- Partner with our clients on diversity and inclusion initiatives to integrate and amplify efforts across our networks.
- Enhance civic engagement by providing all colleagues with paid time off to vote.
- Continue of support of minority-serving professional design organizations, such as NOMA through sponsorships, participating in national initiatives, and local chapter support.
- Focus our coordinated social responsibility engagement and charitable giving efforts on initiatives dedicated to racial, social, environmental and design justice.
Recruiting and Development
- Expand the firm’s relationships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and other higher education institutions that serve diverse communities.
- Increase engagement and talent acquisition efforts across these educational institutions to enhance the pool of applicants for our firm and others
- Extend internship opportunities to students and graduates of HBCUs and HSIs.
- Extend our existing scholarship program with Morgan State University, and explore opportunities to fund scholarship programs at other minority-serving institutions in the communities where our offices are located.
- Identify and reduce potential barriers in the recruitment, interviewing, hiring and promotion processes in an effort to address and reduce challenges that qualified diverse candidates may face.
- Enhance our mentoring and training programs to maximize our diverse team members’ potential for success and promotion.
- Engage with industry groups and licensing boards to reform and remove barriers to entry and accreditation, in an effort to make the profession more equitable and thereby increase the percentage of Black licensed architects.
Governance
- Take immediate steps to increase engagement between diverse colleagues and the firm’s senior management and Board of Directors, with near- and longer-term diversity goals for the Board.
- Include anti-discrimination statements in our contracts with clients and service providers as appropriate.
- Regularly revisit our diversity and inclusion policies and performance review practices.
It is with immediacy and humility that we are taking these actions to amplify our efforts in the name of anti-racism. We are continually striving to create a firm that exemplifies fairness and equity in all that we do. As a firm and as individuals, we are committed to choosing social justice each and every day.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Hord Coplan Macht is an equal opportunity employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, gender, LGBTQ, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), marital status, religion, age (40 and over), disability, results of genetic testing, or service in the military. Equal employment opportunity applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including hiring, placement, promotion, termination, transfer, leave of absence, compensation, and training.
We are committed to gender pay scale equity, and to ensure that both women and men are treated on the same basis in terms of compensation for the work they perform.
Hord Coplan Macht expressly prohibits any form of unlawful employee harassment or discrimination based on any of the characteristics mentioned above. Improper interference with the ability of other employees to perform their expected job duties is not tolerated.
Transparency in Coverage
This link leads to the machine-readable files that are made available in response to the federal Transparency in Coverage Rule and includes negotiated service rates and out-of-network allowed amounts between health plans and healthcare providers. The machine readable files are formatted to allow researchers, regulators, and application developers to more easily access and analyze data.