Photo: Amanda Sloan, Landscape Designer | The Development of CDRC-Boston
The Community Design Resource Center of Boston began as a series of conversations between the Boston Architectural College (BAC) and the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) in the summer of 2004. Both organizations had a strong history of community-focused work - the BSA through its various committees and partnerships on public issues, and the BAC through decades of community design studios. Nonetheless, there was a sense that a better connection was needed between communities in need of design services and professionals able to offer them.
In the fall of 2004 and the winter of 2005, the BAC and BSA gathered multi-disciplinary working groups of design professionals, students and educators, community service providers, housing advocates, builders and developers to address the question: what could a community design center do for Boston? Themes from these sessions included strong emphasis on diversity, inclusiveness, sustainability, economic justice and participatory process. By March of 2005, the Boston CDC Steering Committee had been recruited, taking on the task of distilling the varied input from the charrettes into a coherent foundation for a new organization.
Throughout the spring and summer of 2005, the steering committee developed the mission, goals and structure of the organization, taking advantage not only of local resources, but also of advice and support from community design practitioners across the country. In October, the committee celebrated the completion of its work in establishing the Community Design Resource Center of Boston (CDRC-Boston) to provide design assistance, knowledge-building and the opportunity to strengthen community service in the building industry throughout Greater Boston. |
