Mannington Commercial Supports IIDA Design Your World Program

Chicago, IL, June 30, 2021-As part of a long-term commitment to expose a diverse community of students and emerging professionals to design through learning and engagement, Mannington Commercial has announced its support of IIDA’s new design program for high school students, Design Your World, in partnership with established non-profit organization After School Matters (ASM) and with additional support from OFS, After School Matters, 3form and Configura. The pilot, which will kickstart July 6 in Chicago and build a framework for future regional expansion, will grant educational design opportunities while tackling diversity in design at the source.

ASM has a long-standing record of success in the Chicago area, having served nearly 19,000 high school teens annually and over 350,000 since the program’s inception, with a focus on underserved communities. This partnership invites a paradigm shift in the predominately white design industry, focusing on students in the crucial early stages of career exploration, with an aim to bring the possibilities and inspiration of a career in design within their reach. Design Your World presents an important link to current IIDA efforts, which support scholarships for BIPOC design school students and provide continuing professional education and programming to members around the world.

A significant initiative for IIDA and the design industry at large, the six-week program, led by Florida A&M University Architecture graduate and Savannah College of Art and Design MFA graduate and interior designer, Ciera C. Payton, will examine a well-rounded commercial design curriculum that will cover topics such as material selection, color theory, creating space plans, as well as working with various types of design firms and sectors. Guest speaker Cheryl S. Durst, who holds a certificate in equity, diversity, and inclusion from Cornell, will kick-off Design Your World, followed by vice president of commercial design for Mannington Commercial, Roby Isaac, Ind. IIDA; Interactive Design Architects (IDEA) president; former president of the Illinois Chapter of the National Organization for Minority Architects, Dina Griffin, IIDA, FAIA, NOMA; Hendrick Interior Designer and Savannah College of Art and Design professor, Tara Headley, IIDA; and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) senior urban designer, project manager, and founder of the First 500 project, Tiara Hughes.

Design Your World will officially launch July 6 with the initial ASM course running through August 13.

For more information on After School Matters, visit: www.afterschoolmatters.org.

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