NYSID Wins Steelcase Social Innovation Fellowship

Helping NYSID Create More Access to a Design Career for Underrepresented High Schoolers

“There is a crisis in design practice today: lack of diversity. Students from underrepresented and/or underserved communities often do not pursue a career in interior design because they may be unfamiliar with the field, and do not see themselves included in the design profession. Our communities and clients suffer because important voices and viewpoints are missing from the design process.” 
—Ellen Fisher, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean

To address this absence, Fisher, along with director of undergraduate studies Barbara Weinreich, applied for and won Steelcase’s Social Innovation Fellowship for their “Pipeline to Design” proposal.

The Fellowship is awarded through a jury of industry leaders and Steelcase’s Social Innovation Lab, which aims to create more equity in education by empowering change makers. Steelcase has provided NYSID with $5,000 to create a pilot program through the College’s Pre-college program.

Says Fisher, “Starting with a strategic partnership with the YWCA of NYC, NYSID will offer its Summer Pre-College Introduction to Interior Design course to the young women of the Y. After participating in the regular two-week Pre-College, the YWCA students in the Pipeline for Design cohort will continue for another week, working on a design project for the Y’s Family Resource Center, its NYC headquarters. The program is intended to empower the young women, and give them the experience of what a design education and career can be. This pilot program will generate a prototype that can be extended in the future across the U.S., with other community organizations as strategic partners.”

Not only will the students in the program create interior designs for the YWCA headquarters, they will leave the Pre-College course with portfolio pieces to use in the college application process. The Pipeline for Design program kicks off this summer.