Gensler Gives Back: Spotlight on DC Community Impact Initiatives
At Gensler, giving is a year-round affair. Impacting our communities and investing in the education of our youth are critical components of our mission to create equitable and resilient cities. That’s why we are committed to creating positive, enduring change through social responsibility and civic engagement in the communities where we live, work, and play.
This week on the Gensler Design Exchange podcast, Meredith Flanagan, Gensler’s Washington DC office community impact leader, sits down with Theresa Sheils, co-managing director of Gensler DC, to discuss the office’s community impact initiatives and reflect on how the Gensler DC (gDC) team has given back over the last year.
At the heart of running a successful community impact program is passionate people. With more than 10 years of experience designing engaging events in the DC area, Meredith brings a vast network of creativity, contacts, and attention to detail to her role at Gensler. As a registered architect and proponent of sustainable design, Theresa leads some of Gensler’s most complex architectural projects in the Southeast region. Together with office leaders and the Gensler Community Impact team, Meredith and Theresa lead projects and initiatives focused on giving back to communities across the District.
“DC is really a tale of two cities, where there is a huge educational and wealth divide. We’ve spent the last few years focusing on two of the most disadvantaged communities in DC: Wards 7 and 8.” –Theresa Sheils, Co-Managing Director, Gensler
Through volunteering, donations, and low-and-pro-bono work, Gensler makes concerted efforts across the organization to educate and uplift communities. In this episode, Meredith and Theresa discuss several of these efforts within the District. This year in the historically disadvantaged communities in DC’s Wards 7 and 8, Gensler sponsored the East of the River Career Exposure Camp, a program focused on exposing middle school students to careers in science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Another initiative geared toward educating the next generation included 3D printing classes in partnership with Project Create, where Gensler DC employees volunteered to teach students how to design, prototype, and 3D-print their own projects.
Even though the pandemic has made in-person connection and volunteering challenging, Gensler DC’s community impact team is still spreading cheer during the holiday season. Through the Holiday Acts of Kindness initiative, Gensler DC team members across various teams and studios adopted local families and fulfilled their holiday wish lists. This year, the donations benefitted students and family members of the Kelly Miller Middle School and the Randle Highlands Elementary School. One lucky family will receive eight bikes — one for each member! The office also partnered with MOI and Miriam’s Kitchen to provide coats to those experiencing homelessness in the region.
“Schools are a place where we can have an early impact. That’s why many of our programs take place in schools and around education. We’re showing kids about careers they may have never known about, like architecture, design, and visualization. A lot of this work is centered around having that early impact in schools.” –Theresa Sheils, Co-Managing Director, Gensler
Our community relationships with programs like ACE, NOMA, and City Year are important to us. Through these partnerships, we help foster the well-being of children, support the education and training of students, and ensure a diverse and inclusive pipeline of talent in the architecture and design professions. Over the course of the years of giving back, many of these partnerships have continued to grow and involve more and more of Gensler’s efforts beyond volunteering. One example is the partnership with Project Create, which started with Gensler DC providing pro-bono brand development for the organization and has since evolved into leading an interior renovation of their rowhouse space.
From fostering students’ education to spreading joy through gifts, time, and talents — even during a global pandemic — our people have shown up for their neighbors to safely and kindly lend support when they need it most.
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