Black Lives Matter: Our Commitment
To all those affected by social and racial injustice, we stand in solidarity with you. Black Lives Matter.
The violent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others have forced discussions of systemic racism in all facets of society, including many firms in the Architecture and Engineering industry.
Seventeen years ago, Sherwood was founded with the intention of creating a place where we could actively use our unique skill sets to address societal problems and injustices. We have tried to incorporate that vision in our work and in our actions. Recently, we have begun to look inwards to ensure we stay true to our mission and core beliefs as we grow, confirm our everyday actions support our long-term vision of change, and determine how Sherwood can make a difference.
We’ve started the process by listening to our employees who feel the collective conscience to support and amplify the Black Lives Matter movement and address systemic racism within our society. For so long we have participated in a culture that privileges white dominance, and we are now at the turning point to challenge the status quo. Through all-staff discussions to one-on-one conversations, it has become clear that we must commit to eliminating inequities within our firm and in our external environments. To change the system, we must start everywhere and we must start now.
As an initial step in our action plan, Sherwood has established a “Change Team” of committed individuals across all levels of the firm to lead the following diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives below, and to hold ourselves accountable for progress.
With the ongoing violence fueled by ingrained systemic racism, we have experienced a more intense and sustained reaction than ever before. Out of these tragedies, we hope that society may finally begin to reconcile the hundreds of years of social and racial injustice.
As an engineering firm which prides itself on challenging the way we design and think about the future, Sherwood recognizes it is also our responsibility to question the disparities within our societal systems and support the communities affected. Positive change begins at the individual level and requires greater community contribution in order to create a lasting effect. We recognize that we must make changes to transform our industry’s culture and we hope our efforts continue to build momentum to the larger collective.