As local and national measures are crafted to provide economic support to small businesses in this time of national crisis, it is vitally important that creative business enterprises are not left out, and that they are able to participate in measures aimed to help in recovery.
We are working to help make sure those businesses have a seat at the table now, and are able to thrive in the future through collective action and collaboration - all while protecting the design workers who make our businesses possible. Our aims are as follows:
Advocate for Design: Working with designers/architects is essential to implementing space safety measures in the current crisis and beyond. We aim to create a seat at the table for the design community to provide input and receive work to help safely guide us to the future.
Private Sector Partnerships: Facilitating dialog between the business community and local independent design businesses. Creating opportunities and channels for commissions and collaborations between businesses, developers, and other private sector actors looking for design and construction services and the energetic and innovative design firms that are in their backyards. As we move forward through this crisis we want to further the ways the design community can be a resource for the business community and the business community can be a resource for the design community.
State and City Contracts: Creating opportunities for smaller, innovative firms to have an opportunity to bid on city and state projects, at a variety of scales.
Small Business Partnerships and Resourcing: We would like to continue working on partnerships with other small businesses to leverage our design expertise to help them adapt and thrive in the Covid and Post-Covid era. We have already been working with a few businesses on a pro-bono basis and would like to create a network that furthers that work with other local businesses. These projects have enabled us to think creatively on behalf of impacted small businesses and to investigate how their specific needs can be addressed through design and through advocacy on an agency or governmental level. As we navigate this new era we would really like to help bring back those businesses that help make New York the city that it is, and more.
Design Workers Rights: With a focus on safely getting back to work, we can not forget the workers themselves. We aim to set a high standard for not only design worker safety, but advocate for a progressive vision of fair pay, work hours, paid internships, vacation time, maternity leave, health care, and other benefits that are sometimes overlooked when speaking about the design/architecture trade.