APA and its professional institute, AICP, have continually engaged in efforts to increase social equity, diversity, and minority participation. The following timeline highlights APA and AICP diversity milestones since 1978.
| Diversity Milestones | |
| 1978 | The first annual APA Graduate Planning Fellowship are awarded to minority students. |
| 1979 | APA creates the Women in Planning Division. |
| 1980 | APA creates the Planning and the Black Community Division. |
| 1994 | Planning and Community Equity Book published with support of AICP. |
| 1994-1995 | AICP adopts Agenda for America's Communities in the wake of the Los Angeles Riots. |
| 1995 | AICP creates Community Assistance Program (CAP). |
| 1996 | Building on a relationship dating back to 1978, APA launches APA and Planning in China initiative working closely with the central and local governments in the People's Republic of China (PRC). |
| 1998 | APA creates the Gays and Lesbians in Planning Division. |
| 1999 | APA Board designates a focused seat on the Board of Directors for a minority member. |
| 2001 | APA Research releases a Spanish language course and workbook (Los Fundamentos de Planificacion de Sitios) on the fundamentals of site planning and delivers nine training sessions in Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic. |
| 2001 | APA establishes additional minority-focused scholarships including the Judith McManus Price scholarship. |
| 2001 | APA creates the Paul Davidoff National Award for Social Advocacy. |
| 2001 | A Spanish-language section is launched on the APA website. |
| 2003 | AICP Symposium held on social equity, "Getting to Equality: Better Transportation Choices for Underserved Communities." |
| 2003 | AICP forms a task force to address the minority pass rate on the AICP exam. |
| 2003 | Webpages in Mandarin are created on the APA website. |
| 2004 | APA creates the Indigenous Planning Division. |
| 2004 | Minority Planning Summit held in Washington, D.C. |
| 2004 | APA's President appoints the Diversity Task Force to develop a report and recommendations based on the Minority Planning Summit. |
| 2004 | APA adopts the Free Student Membership Program. |
| 2004 | AICP launches the AICP Mentoring Program. |
| 2004 | APA and AICP release the Technical Report for the Minority Pass Rate Project. |
| 2005 | Diversity Summit II held in San Francisco. |
| 2005 | APA's Board of Directors adopts the recommendations of the Diversity Task Force report, Increasing Diversity in the Planning Profession. |
| 2005 | APA's President appoints the first Diversity Subcommittee, a new sub-committee of the APA Membership Committee, to implement the Task Force recommendations. |
| 2005 | APA responds to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina by coordinating pro bono planning assistance throughout the Gulf Coast region. |
| 2006 | APA launches webpages to house diversity and social equity resources. |
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