CCNY's Jerome Haferd is part of the leadership of Dark Matter U. which received a $100,000 #BlackVisionaries grant. Photo by Elias Williams.
The City College of New York's Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture are proud to announce that Assistant Professor of Architecture Jerome Haferd, through his affiliation with Dark Matter U. (DMU) as a member of their leadership team, has received a #BlackVisionaries $100,000 grant to be used for the group. DMU is a democratic network of design professionals and academics that considers and centers multiple subjectivities and co-creates new forms of knowledge production, BIPOC mentorship, and spatial imagination to serve broader, often overlooked constituencies.
Instagram and the Brooklyn Museum awarded ten national grants out of a field of 2,000 applicants. This project is a way to invest in Black voices and organizations working in art and design for a total of $650,000. #BlackVisionaries is led by Creative Chair Antwaun Sargent.
“The importance of programs and awards like #BlackVisionaries cannot be understated. Dedicating material resources and funds to support and celebrate BIPOC voices is central to the mission of Dark Matter U. Design is culture. As interdisciplinary designers and architects, we believe that diversity, design and Black/POC imagination are literally crucial to the creation of a new society and built environment,” said Haferd.
DMU is a BIPOC-led, anti-racist design justice network seeking the radical transformation of built environment education and practice toward a just future. An ever-growing inter-institutional network, its core leadership includes Haferd, Venesa Alicea-Chuqui, Germane Barnes, Bryan C. Lee Jr., Justin Garrett Moore, Jennifer Newsom, Quilian Riano and Tya Winn.
Haferd’s participation in DMU is a crucial link to his teaching at CCNY. “Dark Matter U. is core to the mission of uplifting diversity at Spitzer and CUNY,” said Haferd, explaining that the Spitzer School has collaborated with DMU on a co-taught course between Yale University and City College, as well as a teach-in in fall 2021. DMU also participated in the 2022 Lisbon Architecture Triennial working with students from the Spitzer School.
The grant comes at a particularly important moment for DMU. “The #BlackVisionaries Grant will help to position Dark Matter U. on its next phase – obtaining funding and support to help sustain this organization,” he said, of the volunteer-led group.
Haferd is partner and founder of Jerome Haferd, RA and BRANDT : HAFERD Architecture D.P.C., an award winning Harlem-based architecture and design studio. His community-driven practice designs projects nationwide. He also creates public art, and conducts cross-institutional collaborations at Columbia University and Yale University, and others. Haferd is one of only 2% of Black licensed architects in the U.S.
About the City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization DegreeChoices ranks CCNY #3 nationally for social mobility. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. This year, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
Thea Klapwald