APA Holds Summit To Increase Diversity and Advance Social Equity

By Mitchell Silver, AICP

On April 28, 2004, in Washington, D.C., more than 100 people from around the country attended the American Planning Association's first Minority Planning Summit. The summit offered may insights, raised excellent ideas, and energized the summit participants. APA's Membership Committee and the Planning and the Black Community Division sponsored the Summit. Mitchell Silver, AICP, former APA Board Member, organized the event with APA staff support.

Why was the summit held? America is becoming more diverse. Communities are becoming more diverse. Despite these changes, people of color represent less than five percent of APA's membership. Recognizing the need to become as diverse as the population we serve and to readjust our focus on social equity issues, APA and AICP have intensified their efforts and shifted priorities to be more outcome-driven. Rather than predict what minority members and non-members want in terms of opportunities, products or services, or guess what issues concern people and communities of color, APA endorsed a summit to answer these questions.

The summit was intended to:

• Find out why minorities are not joining APA or retaining their membership;
• Find out the type of programs and services APA should establish to attract minority planners;
• Find out the planning issues in communities of color that APA should address;
• Validate the initiatives APA is currently undertaking; and
• Develop an action plan and strategy to increase minority membership.

Questionnaires and group discussions elicited a number of recommendations. First among them were highlighting diversity issues in Planning magazine and on APA's website. Next were holding additional summits in the future, improving the AICP exam pass rate among minority candidates, and benchmarking APA minority participation at the national and local level. Mentoring programs, scholarships, and more targeted outreach were mentioned most as core services that APA should pursue. Participants also recommended more involvement by chapters.

A task force will be created to review the summit recommendations and issue a final report. Draft notes from the summit questionnaire and group discussions are available upon request. We are exploring ways for interested members to communicate regarding diversity issues and summit-related matters. Watch for information posted at the link below. Please e-mail Mitchell Silver if you want to receive the notes from the summit or be part of the listserv.

Click here to learn more about the Minority Planning Summit.

Click here to join a listserv about minority/diversity issues.