From September 15 to October 15 each year, the United States recognizes Hispanic Heritage Month, a month full of celebrations to honor the heritage and diversity, as well as the achievements and contributions, of Hispanic and Latino Americans. Originally Hispanic Heritage Week, the national observation began in 1968 under President Lyndon B. Johnson and was expanded under President Ronald Reagan in 1988. For the last 25 years, the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers (NCHEPM) has led the process to select the annual theme. This year, it was announced that the 2024 theme of Hispanic Heritage Month is, “Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together” aiming to honor the innovation, resilience, and unity found among Hispanic and Latino communities.
As Bodwé Group continues our work to grow the legacy and economy of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, we also support efforts to grow and diversify the next generation of design professionals. This Hispanic Heritage Month, we celebrate a team member who dedicates her time and knowledge to engaging with middle and high school students that are often underrepresented in the field of design and construction. Working as a Project Coordinator for Seven Generations A+E (7GAE), Nadine Rios-Rivas is a first-generation Latino American with familial roots in Puerto Rico and Peru. To our team, to her community, and to the students who attend the annual Project Pipeline Kalamazoo camp, Nadine has also become a pioneer of change.
Project Pipeline is an annual summer camp organized by the National Organization of Minority Architects, or NOMA, that empowers young people to affect change in their community through design. The program was formed in Fort Lauderdale, FL back in 2002, and has since expanded to dozens of camps held in more than twenty cities. While many of the camps are hosted in hub cities such as Houston, Chicago, Seattle, and Atlanta, the Kalamazoo camp is unique in its location and its ability to reach students of color in a smaller urban setting.
Nadine has been a volunteer and organizer for the Project Pipeline Kalamazoo camp since it was started in 2017. Fresh out of college and the first in her family to graduate with a degree in architecture, Nadine loved the idea of connecting students with the field of design, giving them the chance to study the impacts of architecture within their community and connect with real-world architects and designers. “Everyone sees a doctor sometime in their life,” says Nadine. “Very few get access to the field of construction, architecture specifically. I didn’t meet an architect until I was 22.”
The Project Pipeline Kalamazoo camp was started by Hayward Babineaux, a college associate turned mentor for Nadine. The two worked together at Byce & Associates, Inc. in Kalamazoo, and Hayward encouraged Nadine to get involved with the NOMA Detroit Chapter.
“Learning more about NOMA, their mission really hit home for me because their work investing in these kids, who may not have exposure to design professionals otherwise, helps them prepare and start thinking about their career way earlier than I did,” says Nadine. “I think I could have made the decision to study architecture sooner if I had known about it when I was younger.”
Challenging the narratives of what architecture is and who can become an architect, Project Pipeline shifts the perspective for students in the greater Kalamazoo area. Nadine enjoys being able to build relationships with students from Hispanic and Latino families whose first language may not be English. She loves seeing their excitement when they connect through shared culture and speaking Spanish. “By the end of camp, the students have visited an architecture firm, worked on a project in their community, and met someone they can relate to in this field,” says Nadine. “Now when they get older, they can make an educated decision about if this is something they’d like to get into.”
The Kalamazoo camp has grown significantly over the years . In 2017, the camp started with 10 students. Since then, attendance for Project Pipeline Kalamazoo has doubled, with over 25 attendees at this year’s camp. Held at Western Michigan University, the program welcomes recurring attendance from students, and Nadine explains how she enjoys seeing repeat students each year, often bringing along a friend or family member. She’s also seen growth in volunteer numbers. Since joining the 7GAE team in 2020, Nadine often recruits other Bodwé team members to donate their time and expertise to the camp.
Nadine’s work with Project Pipeline inspires students to join the next generation of architects, planners, general contractors and other design professionals, and affect change in their respective communities. Her commitment to community engagement, volunteerism, and the future of architecture was recognized by AIA Southwest Michigan last year, as Nadine was honored with an Associate Member Award for her involvement in Project Pipeline and her active roles with the Michigan Architectural Foundation and the Communities in Schools National Office. While there aren’t enough licensed minority architects in Kalamazoo yet to start a local NOMA chapter, Nadine believes there could be in the future, and she is one of the few pioneering the way, as a first-generation, Latino American architectural associate.
“Our country has one of the most diverse populations in the world,” says Nadine. “My dream is that one day, our built environments will reflect that diversity too.”
