What Sustainability Professionals Need to Know About JEDI

What originally was coined as a Star Wars term, the word JEDI has taken on an all-new meaning. Standing for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, JEDI is the framework for developing teams, cultivating leaders, and making business a force for good.

This February, amid Black History Month, Greenbuild is spotlighting a critical component that today's sustainability leaders must recognize. As we build the structures and communities for a safe and healthy future, there is a lens on how we design for diverse populations, inclusive workspaces, and low-income families.

JEDI has many ties into the built environment with design, specifically, "designing for the means" and "designing for the extreme." These approaches apply to bringing inclusivity in early during the design process, as well as a focus on resiliency at a time when extreme weather poses the most significant threat of our time.

Both residential communities and workspaces have much to benefit from inclusivity, especially as we enter the next era of work. In relation to offices and other work environments, Wiley's Diversity in Tech: 2021 U.S. Report surveyed more than 2,000 early career tech workers and 270 business leaders, finding that nearly 70% of U.S. businesses identify a lack of diversity in their workforces. At the same time, the same percentage of young tech workers feel a lack of inclusion and belonging in company culture.

When JEDI initiatives are built into the early frameworks of company culture and office environments, most workers report a positive impact where they work.

With these statistics in mind, there are tools and resources available that allow today's green building professionals to design homes and workspaces to create a more inclusive, resilient, and healthy place for companies and communities to thrive.

In Greenbuild's February webinar, Inclusion by Design: The WELL Equity Rating, we examine the WELL Equity Rating and how its implementation can support organizations' diversity, equity, and inclusion goals while also creating a culture in the workplace where everyone feels welcome, seen, and heard.

Developed by the International WELL Building Institute, The WELL Equity Rating helps organizations prioritize and implement equitable policies and design interventions for the most marginalized, including first-generation immigrants, LGBTQ+, people of color, people who are physically disabled, neurodivergent, and more.

Green building by nature is future-thinking and innovative. The more invested in achieving and implementing systems like the WELL Equity Rating, the stronger the opportunity for change, and the more JEDI will be widely adopted by all building professionals across the globe.