Updates & Insights

^{Ishmael Nuñez, Partner at Uncommon Bridges is a co-author of “The State of DEI and the External and Internal Decisions Impacting the Urban Place Management Organizations". He is also Board member of International Downtown Association.}

New research from the International Downtown Association examines the challenges the place management industry faces as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies are scrutinized. The paper also shares examples from several urban centers as they work to respond to and rectify their histories. While political changes in some states have had real impacts on DEI work, organizational capacity also remains a challenge.

In Texas, state policies that have dismantled DEI programs at public universities have also had a cooling effect on other publicly funded organizations. As urban place management organizations seek to revitalize underinvested and underused areas for the benefit of diverse communities, they are asking about the implications of these laws other parts of the public realm, such as public spaces and infrastructure.  

In California in 2021, the Downtown Long Beach Alliance, a local place management organization, launched a process to craft a diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility framework in tandem with its strategic planning process. Ishmael Nuñez, now Partner at Uncommon Bridges, led the DEI process of education, grounding, relationship building, organizational development, and action planning. Their goal was to support the organizational growth as a place management organization and their ability to partner with local businesses. The framework improved public perceptions, guided tactical improvements, and helped align the board’s representation with the downtown community. However, as time went on, organizational capacity shifted, and the political climate added layers of complexity, especially for advocacy work. The historical inequities of property ownership and board makeup remained.
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Like many cities around the country, the Friendship Heights neighborhood in Washington, DC, struggled as retail vacancies increased after the pandemic. To bring people back into the urban center, the Friendship Heights Alliance was formed in 2021 to create events and programming. However, the problems of this predominantly white community ran deeper, based on a history of restrictive covenants and land use regulations that kept out the non-white or wealthy. The Alliance hired historians and collaborated with local college and high school students to create a public history program, sponsored by ChevyChase Land Company, one of the original perpetrators of the segregationist policies.
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The paper concludes that the ongoing debate about DEI underscores broader societal tensions about the role of government in promoting equality. It also lays out the criticisms of business assessment mechanisms, which can prioritize business interests over addressing racial disparities in wealth, education, and health. At the same time, when urban place management organizations try to address the complexity of historical racism by adopting policies, they are often told to stay in their lane.

“The goal of working together as an ideas council was to get the urban place management industry to think differently about the goals and outcomes of initial DEI investment,” said Ishmael Nuñez, about why he contributed to the paper. 

“It was always going to be an uphill struggle, and frankly, it is going to get harder. But we're still standing behind this work, and our team is ready and available as a peer or collaborator to support place management organizations doing work that advances diversity and inclusion."

While the paper came out in early 2024, it reads more relevant now than ever as our political landscape shifts further. The authors warn: Political and government backlash to DEI initiatives serves as a warning for place managers. UPMOS can’t alone reverse the impact of structural racism on our communities, but we must acknowledge the full context in which we operate.‍

The authors conclude with a reflection on the research still needed, such as the impact of recent critical race theory legislation on place management work.

They also outline a call to action for urban place management organizations:

• Understand the history of your place to build the foundation for an inclusive urban place management organization.
• Develop educational programs on the spatial dimensions of racism at work, with accessible, honest information about how racist beliefs and anti-Blackness have shaped our city’s built environments and economies.
• Actively build a diverse staff and board. BIDs are necessary partners in wider efforts to diversify both real estate and urban planning through scholarships, recruitment, internship, and mentorship programs.
• Provide technical assistance and resources to historically marginalized areas. Acknowledge that structures benefiting stakeholders of place management organizations have disadvantaged others. BIDs and UPMOs can foster equitable development, workforce growth, and wealth building in neglected urban areas.
• Invest in leadership development by training staff at all levels to practice equity and anti-racism principles.
• Reevaluate traditional practices. Place management organizations have driven economic growth, but we must assess this growth impact on social mobility, jobs, and living conditions for historically marginalized people.
• Develop equity-based guidelines for public space design and programming along with ways to measure how and whether commonly marginalized groups use these spaces.

The full paper is available to members of the IDA in the publications section of the website. If you need help accessing a copy, please email marketing AT uncommonbridges.com with the name of the paper in the subject line.

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