Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Building Solutions Announces Social Justice Campaign for Dallas-Fort Worth Schools

  • By Yvonne Marquez
  • 11/17/20

Building Solutions, a real estate and facility assessment advisor, announced their “Building Solutions for Brighter Futures” campaign, an initiative that helps make improvements in underserved Dallas-Fort Worth area schools with the hope it will help achieve better outcomes for K-12 students.

In celebration of the company’s 30th anniversary, the campaign “aims to raise awareness of inequities in school facilities and provide solutions for creating fair learning environments.” Research shows school facilities can have a “profound impact on both teacher and student outcomes.” Inadequate school facilities can negatively affect a student’s health, behavior, engagement, learning and achievement, especially for low-income, Black and Hispanic students in underserved schools.

Building Solutions will be donating 3,000 hours to 30 different schools in the North Texas area for facility assessments to identify critical deficiencies in facilities and operating practices that impact health and learning. They will also work to create a fundraising and policy committee to help the schools make the necessary improvements identified by the assessments after the campaign is over.

"This year, the coronavirus pandemic and the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, among too many others, have highlighted the growing inequities for racial and ethnic communities across the country, underscoring the need for corporate citizens to step up and speak up. We want to do more than talk," Bill Keslar, CEO of Building Solutions, said in a statement.

In addition, the company will initiate a mentorship program for education facility leaders and staff in the area to share expertise and tools to help maintain school campuses.

"Our hope is to bring awareness to the significant importance of a just and fair learning environment and the profound impact it has on a student's success," Dennis Palmer, senior vice president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. "The COVID-19 pandemic is greatly affecting our most vulnerable students and through our 30th anniversary social justice campaign, our goal is to close the growing gap in academic achievement for underserved students in North Texas and model how such a focus can be applied elsewhere."

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • TCU Marks Campus Expansion Milestone

    Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, recently held a topping-out ceremony to mark progress on a major campus expansion effort including four new residential facilities and a five-story parking garage, according to a news release.

  • Wold Completes Geothermal Projects at Two Minnesota Schools

    Wold Architects & Engineers recently announced that it has completed two geothermal expansion projects for Mounds View Public Schools in Shoreview, Minn., according to a news release. The work at Highview Middle School and Irondale High School serves the district’s long-term goal of reducing energy costs and dependency on non-renewable fuel sources, as well as improving building performance.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Year-Round Schools Require Year-Round Indoor Air Quality Planning

    While many schools are out for the summer, year-round schools follow a more “balanced” schedule with shorter, more frequent breaks spaced throughout the school year. Even though this offers educational benefits, these facilities have less downtime for building maintenance. This can become an issue when facilities managers overlook the importance of routine HVAC maintenance and air duct cleaning services.