Our mission and goals allow us to engage in a wide range of activities that bring communities and designers together to envision and create equitable, healthy and sustainable built environments. Through education, technical assistance, collaborative design and community service, we are able to reach a variety of communities and organizations in Greater Boston and to engage the diverse skills and talents of our area's large design and planning community.

We seek to broaden the understanding of community design projects and practice both within communities and within the professions, not only by highlighting local and national community design work, but also by convening workshops and discussions that explore the details of partnerships between designers, planners, other industry professionals and community members and leaders. By helping to build a common language and common knowledge base among our participants and constituents, we are able to facilitate more effective working relationships that result in better design outcomes

We also work to promote service in education and in practice as an integral part of the design and planning professions. By introducing opportunities for students and young professionals to give back to communities through design, we establish the importance of design service as part of the ethical responsibility of the professions. This understanding is further strengthened when these future leaders work in partnership with current leaders in community design.

Finally, improving access to design services will always be a core aspect of our work. By connecting professionals with underserved communities, we hope to bring greater equity to the quality of built environments across Greater Boston and to demonstrate the value of good design for community problem-solving.