EDR Day of Service 2021 | Request for Proposals
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?”
— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
EskewDumezRipple, the New Orleans-based architecture, interior design, and urban planning practice, is pleased to announce the seventh annual Day of Service on Monday, January 18, 2021.
Seven years ago, with the development of the EDR Day of Service, the firm created an annual program intended to unite design and civic leadership to analyze and address social and urban issues with the power of good design and community engagement. The EDR Day of Service evolved from our collective ethos and has become part of our firm identity.
On the Day of Service, EskewDumezRipple offers a skills-based service program to benefit regional and local community organizations and non-profits in the Greater Gulf Coast Region. The studio collaborates with community organizations in supporting their missions through a design-oriented process that leverages a wide range of expertise – from marketing and administration to architecture and design. The studio of approximately 50 employees divides into teams and via intensive, day-long charrettes, each team works together with selected organizations to provide tangible results tailored to each organization’s particular challenge.
This program seeks to connect leaders within our practice to the different communities by supporting a variety of efforts to make a positive impact through design excellence. On the Day of Service, EDR donates the time of the entire staff for one work day, a value of over $40,000 to community-focused initiatives. During the day-long charrette, stakeholders from selected proposals will work with the EDR staff in a collaborative design process tailored to their organization’s mission. Day of Service projects can be in the realm of architecture, interior design, space planning, site planning, signage, budgets, zoning, marketing, furniture, and everything in between. This exchange of knowledge benefits both EDR and the partner organizations by constructing a deeper understanding of our city through thoughtful conversations, in-depth explorations and tangible deliverables completed by design professionals.
Past Day of Service Partners
Location of prior Day of Service partners
Proposals received by November 6, 2020 will be reviewed and of those proposals, four to six projects will be selected by the EDR staff. Each project, depending on its scope, will then be designated a team of 5-10 members from the EDR staff dedicated to each project on the day of service. Each team will have team leaders responsible for working with the partner organization to coordinate scope definition, identify deliverables, and follow up after the Day of Service.
Team members and their community partner will participate in at least two required planning meetings, December 4, 2020 and January 8, 2021 from 4:00 to 5:30 pm, to further identify the project scope and deliverables. Due to COVID-19 and social distancing, we will be conducting meetings virtually.
The actual Day of Service, January 18, 2021, is a work day, dedicated to producing the deliverables as agreed upon during the planning meetings. The community partner will be asked to check-in (virtually or in person) with their EDR team to give feedback on the team’s progress.
The Day of Service Final Presentations will be shortly after the Day of Service. Each team will present their work to the group and provide the project partner with the identified deliverables.
Please note, the deadline for Proposals has been extended to Friday, November 13.
Lastly, the EDR staff and community partners will be asked to participate in a follow-up survey to evaluate the experience and impact of the day.
Any organizations with questions about the process, can reach out to EDR Day of Service Coordinator, Kristin Henry, at doscoordinator@eskewdumezripple.com.
For a brief overview of the program, please enjoy the following brief video short: