As creative stewards and members of the public realm, OLIN is committed to helping communities create places where everyone is given agency. With diversity we can build a world of ideas and experiences, which will drive a future of innovation and creativity. This means recognizing and honoring our differences as we work to build common bonds of collaboration with one another. We recognize that in the communities we serve, unjust disparities persist that continue to divide us and cause harm. Being passive in the face of these realities is not acceptable. We acknowledge that these damaging biases exist within our culture, our profession and within our practice. At OLIN individually, and among all levels of leadership, we seek to overcome the biases we personally and collectively harbor. We are humble about our approach and the steps we are taking as we move forward. This work is a constant practice, and it is our responsibility to strive for inclusivity and equity in all of our actions. Our Diversity and Inclusion efforts, outlined below, include ongoing critical examination of core business and management practices for potential bias and inequity. This includes enhancing our focus on performance-rating equity, pay equity, growth, and upward mobility.

TRANSPARENCY

Provided Anti-bias, Anti-Racism, and Marginalized Groups Training to all members of OLIN. (2022)
Conducted an anonymous Inclusive Climate Justice Survey to understand equity in the OLIN studio. (2022)
Continue to actively review and make transparent our compensation criteria for a fair and living wage.
Foster collaborative dialogue and engagement with all members of OLIN
Promote Equality of Success through Performance Management (improving the process and implementing a system to track & rate goals) (anti-bias)
Use and describe metrics to ensure we meet goals

INCLUSIVE INITIATIVES

Diversity

Celebrate the coalition of diversity leaders in our practice through initiatives like Black Lives Matter, PrideScapes, Design for Autism and Neurodivergence, and BLACKLAN 2023 Symposium: Race, Landscape and Media.
Through OLIN Labs, the research component of our practice, we will continue to foster research initiatives to expand the capacity of our practice to combat disparities caused by racial and ethnic disenfranchisement.

Hiring and Retention

OLIN, in consultation with Black leaders in Landscape Architecture, will develop hiring goals for Black identifying practitioners to increase leadership in our own studio and in our field of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design.
Develop inclusive hiring goals to increase diverse leadership in our own studio and in the field of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design.
Attract and retain leaders from diverse backgrounds (Schools, Race, Sex, Gender Identity, Disabilities, Veterans, etc.)
Formalize and strengthen the OLIN mentorship program.

Investment and Practice

Provide sustaining financial support to the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s Ignite Program for BIPOC students in the field of Landscape Architecture
Volunteer in Design Career Building with High School Students in our office locales.
OLIN will continue to invest in local career discovery programs to introduce the design profession to high school students (i.e. Temple University’s Environmental Design Institute in Philadelphia, 2020-2023 and Urban Studio + YouthBuild Compton in Los Angeles, 2020-2021)
Ensure we stay true to our commitment statement when reviewing RFPs

To hold ourselves accountable to these outcomes, our leadership actively listens and seeks to create an atmosphere where people can say what they honestly think and be their true selves. The foundation for these efforts begins internally but will continue to be assessed with ongoing outside third party diversity training for all. We are supporting and financing our team members’ diversity initiatives ranging from race and gender identity and expression to physical and neurodivergent conditions. These initiatives raise our consciousness and foster personal agency among all of us regardless of position in our practice.

We believe an inclusive culture makes OLIN better by making our work more responsive to the communities and institutions we serve. By fostering diversity and inclusion we move beyond traditional models and perspectives and open up new realms of creativity. The practice of OLIN is, at its core, focused on the art of assembling and making sense of complex ecological, architectural, and social systems. The landscape holds space for the beautiful chaos of human existence, functioning as a connector, mediator, and facilitator for connection and interaction. We aspire to be trusted allies to disenfranchised communities and to support a network of practice that helps empower communities to protect their culture and places from the ongoing threats of environmental and economic injustice. We know our best future is one that builds up all of us – together.