Diversity, Equity + Inclusion

Our Plan for MBE/WBE Participation

We work with our clients to thoughtfully and strategically select team members and integrate mentoring for those disciplines that are most critical, employing these steps:

(1) Review. Review client’s equity goals to ensure we are working within any pre-existing agreements.

(2) Promote. Proactively promote the opportunity to participate in the project by attending local industry networking and peer mentoring groups.

(3) Connect. Bring our own MBE/WBE network to client consideration so that together we can connect with qualified firms in the various disciplines necessary to serve the project.

(4) Challenge. Encourage any client-preferred non-MBE/WBE consultants to engage with and mentor a certified smaller or emerging firm within the same discipline, allocating meaningful work to the mentee partner.

(5) Thrive. Provide training and mentorship through team building, shared trainings, partnering and specialty programs.

Equity Along the Supply Chain

Bora’s commitment to equity extends beyond the project site, encompassing those who play an important role in the design and construction process, but who all too often remain invisible. This includes the individuals who work to extract, manufacture, and transport the building materials comprising the completed project, as well as those who are impacted by the fuels used to power it. Our choice in intentionally procuring certain products or materials over others gives us the ability to support businesses that align with our social and environmental values. For example:

• We are committed to avoiding products containing PVC because of the health risks intrinsic to those who manufacture this chemical.
• We seek to avoid natural gas as a building fuel due to the harm done to the land during its extraction as well as the negative air quality impacts from its combustion—both of which disproportionately affect underserved communities.
• We strive to support product manufacturers who provide living wages and safe working conditions for everyone involved.

Retention and Employee Engagement. Bora gives employees a voice through initiatives that inform each aspect of the practice. In 2019-2021, this included working groups to look at how we design together, how we recruit talent, our firm and how we engage our culture, brand and the process supporting our work. A monthly equity-focused lunch discussion forum and All-Staff meetings provide touch points to gain insights from each other. Surveys are used to collect anonymous input and check how things are going. In addition, Affinity Groups provide a space for underrepresented communities to talk about issues that impact them and have a shared voice within the firm.

In 2019, Bora established an Equity Team and began implementing full staff training workshops and conversations, focusing on issues of race, implicit bias, gender identity/expression, sexism/misogyny, intent and impact, power, bullying, representation, and intersectionality. Employees practice engaging in difficult conversations around systems of oppression, developing an understanding of how these systems impact Bora as a company and as a collection of individuals.

Community Outreach. Having committed to apply Critical Race Theory (CRT) to the design of all its projects, Bora continues to expand training through office knowledge sharing and by inviting Client, Architect, and Consultant project teams to train together and gain a shared lens for design. 50% of our staff are trained in CRT, and 66% in Design Justice.

While CRT asks us to find processes specific to each project, we also embrace the following strategies:

• Meet people in their own spaces to reduce the unfamiliar and embrace collaboration.
• Listen, translate, confirm. Listen to needs and ideas; translate ideas into architecture; and confirm we heard correctly with our design to avoid assumptions based on our own socio-economic perspectives.
• Community partnerships. Value the work communities are already doing on the ground. When possible, work with partners to allow them to bring their own communities to the design table and lead the dialogue.
• Affinity spaces. Create culturally specific opportunities for participants to propose and react to design.

Pay Equity. Bora is committed to pay scale equity. Recognizing that there are merited differences in employee compensation within and between an organization’s levels of employees, we place an equitable limit on the compensation ratio between the lowest and highest paid employee at 1:5.

Employee Benefits. We offer a comprehensive package of healthcare benefits to all regular full-time employees, including medical, prescription drug, vision and dental coverage. We pay 100% of the healthcare plan premiums for employees and offer coverage for their dependents. All full-time and part-time employees are eligible to participate in Bora’s 401(k) plan.

Paid Family Leave Policy. Bora believes in building equity by retaining employees that may otherwise feel unable to return to work in the industry, or are concerned about taking the time they need to care for themselves or families. In 2015, Bora was the first architecture firm in Oregon to implement a paid family leave policy for our employees. Employees have access to 6 weeks of paid leave at up to 60% of their salary for maternity and paternity leave, to care for a sick child/parent/spouse, to bereave the loss of a family member, or to mend from a serious personal injury or illness.