Awards & Honors

We 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, Yale University, and elsewhere. He is among the 2 percent of licensed architects in the United States who are Black.