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The Justice Alliance for Design Education (JADE) is a collaborative effort by local education institutions, convened by DesignPhiladelphia, allied in the desire to create a more welcoming and inclusive culture for all students in architecture and design education.
JADE is a collective of educators, professionals, non-profit leaders, students, and administrators in the greater Philadelphia area. It was formed in 2019 as a long-overdue initiative to address institutional racism within architecture education. With the re-brand from the Center for Architecture and Design to DesignPhiladelphia, JADE is expanding to other design disciplines in Philadelphia in 2024.
JADE's activities build upon the centuries of work by Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color to create a just society. Our membership includes representation from 6 universities and 5 non-profits/trade associations.
The JADE (Justice Alliance for Design Education) Fellowship is a program organized by DesignPhiladelphia in partnership with our local colleges and universities that is modeled after similar programs, like the Posse Foundation’s program, and is “rooted in the belief that a small, diverse group of talented students, carefully selected and trained, can serve as a catalyst for individual and community development.” This program launched in 2024 to create a proof of concept that by focusing on supporting a diverse cohort of students within local design college and university departments – that Philadelphia design students can create a community and culture that fosters their person career growth, as well as, a more inclusive and just culture for design students and emerging professionals. We are excited to welcome our second cohort of JADE Fellows in the summer of 2025.
Applications for 2025 are now open. Please click button below to apply.
Each spring, we convene the region’s design schools, non-profits, and industry associations to address the challenge of social inequity in design education. This event provides the opportunity to hear from leaders and educators as they share examples of how they advocate for higher levels of social equity and their efforts to bring more diversity and justice to design world.
Collaboration is what drives our bi-monthly meetings. Professionals and students alike, from Philadelphia and beyond, meet to discuss how we can diversify higher education, create equity in the world of design, and plan for studios and events.
The JADE Studio is an initiative to redistribute the inherent imbalance of power in traditional planning and design processes, by centering community assets, needs and lived experiences to drive design solutions. It creates a model that empowers students to learn from, lift up, and design alongside essential community voices.
