Introduction
My experience as an African American in a primarily European American profession is most painful during the period immediately after graduation with my undergraduate degree. The inability to be able to find a firm was disheartening. Much of the difficulty for me back in 1981 came from an economy which was in recession. Some of it I believe came from my not being culturally close enough to the mainstream to be predictable. As many firms are small enough to have dynamics more like a family than a corporation I found it hard to convince people that I could fit into their family. Granted this was before the implementation of the IDP requirement in Michigan. Still I suspect that the same experiences apply to many people of diverse ethnic or racial backgrounds. It may apply to many women as well.

As a small business owner -and a relatively undercapitalized one at that-I have also found that as much as I would like to share my knowledge and hard won experience with graduate architects I lacked the financial means to do so. As an advisory Group member for the Small Project Practitioners Knowledge Community I have come to believe that the same applies to many smaller firms. It is very difficult to bring on additional staff for their benefit or yours if cash flow is irregular. Worse, if you are in an area with a high cost of living and wage demands are significantly more than you can afford, it is well nigh impossible. Smaller projects seem to often result in an inadequate cash flow that volume production achieves more easily. That or production becomes so hurried that there is little time to teach wile paying the bills. Prospective interns have approached me willing to work for free simply because they are interested in the special projects I undertake as "research." I have turned them away in the spirit of the AIA's pledge not to have unpaid interns. I have no desire to exploit emerging professionals.

Many interns seem to serve out their internship with only one or two firms. (This point should be included in future research questionnaires). Consequently, an intern winds up serving their internship not on the basis of exploring what they might like to do in an environment of their own choosing but rather in an environment that is what is economically available.

The problem with this is that many internships are served in larger firms that can afford to cover the interns cost while they become productive. Smaller firms (firms of less than 5 people) which might be able to offer a distinctly different experience of client relations and project management because of their smaller size projects are often unable to afford to mentor many interns within their firm.

Based on these items I am suggesting a reorganization of the internship process that would be partially based on the model of the continuing education process now in use by the AIA. The goal of this process would be to allow/require all firms to participate in intern development, to give interns a wider variety of working environments to sample, and to give each intern a guaranteed opportunity to complete their internship process. As laid out below this might also limit the losses of graduates out of the profession, increase the diversity of the profession in many areas (not simply racial and ethnic diversity), and finally raise the value of the profession in the eyes of the public as the practical improvements in design are developed and publicized.

Third Party Payer Internship Model
An architectural internship, in addition to preparing the intern to meet the minimum requirements of qualifying for the NCARB exam and for which purpose it serves to gather a base of experience sufficient to allow an intern how to address health safety and welfare issues, should serve three other purposes: First to allow an intern to explore other areas of practice, and second to make the intern aware of what is yet needed to be learned. Thirdly the intern should be able to use this time to help establish their personal development direction whether that is a technical, aesthetic or economic concern.
hem in accomplishing their dreams.

General Description and Structure
In the same way as continuing education is required of AIA members require intern development in actual projects as a condition of membership. This requirement would make every AIA firm large or small a training firm. Further separate the economics out to a third party such as the AIA. All firms might agree to contribute one percent of their gross proceeds to an internship fund for every 50 employees the firm has up to a maximum of 3 percent. Foundations and Corporations might provide additional funding.

Each firm would then commit to hosting interns for a value and time commitment equal to at least one half percent of gross proceeds. The amount actually served might be as much as 5% of gross proceeds, depending on the size of the firm. Having the redistribution of funds in this way would allow smaller firms to host interns that might not otherwise be able to do. It would also remove from the larger firms the burden of providing for the support of the greater portion of interns. Thus interns could apply for internships at smaller firms and experience the distinctly different challenges of such an environment.

Internship pay could be "standardized" based on the geographic area of service. The base pay for an intern who voluntarily joins the program would be tied to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's figures for the wages required for a household to have a 2 bedroom rental unit or equivalent for their area. To that would be added a 5 percent of gross adjustment to cover student loan payments. As all students work for the internship fund not the company where they perform their service, there is no anti-trust issue. While it is not a competitive wage environment, tying the pay to an independent measure makes for a more equitable situation for all interns. A policy on additional pay or bonuses would need to be considered for ethical and legal ramifications.

The internships should be categorized and served out in a four areas: Economic, technical, aesthetic and research. Each area would be offered by a particular company to meet its own needs but each company would agree to offer at least one opportunity per year for an internship in each area. As the internships are paid out of the AIA internship funds this could allow interns to select as well as be selected for a firm and would guarantee more internship positions.

The Economic Internship
This should focus on management details and an understanding of the business of architecture. This would include working on firm marketing and determining what was or was not working on firm marketing, Working on the firms accounting and cash flow system to monitor the economic health of the company and to allow the intern to fully understand the business impact of production and design questions. This internship would be a minimum 6 months but a maximum of one year.

The further goal of this area is to provide competence in client relations, management and business systems and all the NCARB units associated with this would be assigned to this internship. This internship would be a minimum 6 months but a maximum of one year.

The Technical Internship
This would focus on developing the intern's real world experience in creating design development and construction documents. An understanding not simply of the tools but the possible process variations in creating the documents. Smaller projects and larger projects use different processes. In a similar manner a renovation and a new construction project require different methodologies. The intern should understand how the creation of documents varies along with team responsibilities and firm culture.

The further goal of this area is to provide technical competence in building systems and all the NCARB units associated with this would be assigned to this internship. This internship would be a minimum 6 months but a maximum of one year.

The Aesthetic Internship
This would focus on programming and design tasks on a variety of scale of projects from small interior or specialty areas of a larger design to the overall design of a building large or small. This is not carte blanche for the intern as it is still an internship and must be monitored and adjusted by the supervising architect. It is however an opportunity for each intern to have a clear and demonstrable opportunity to prove their design abilities outside the classroom and the relatively abstract solutions sometimes generated by academia. It is my hope that this will help reconcile the difference between the expression of philosophy in the academy and the client driven needs of most practices. If the client wants colloquial residential architecture the architect needs to be able to adjust the expression of philosophy to suit.

The goal of this is to provide design competence in practical designs. All the NCARB units associated with this would be assigned to this internship. This internship would be a minimum of 3 months but a maximum of one year.

Research Internship
This is to allow the intern and the firm time to devote to devising a future for the intern, the firm and the profession. The intern might work with a principal on developing design ideas on how to address accessibility in ways not previously considered. Or they might undertake the design of low income housing or the use of exotic materials. They might focus on innovative laboratory design or perhaps sustainable materials impact on the construction process. This area of internship will allow the intern to explore the future specialization that will help increase their market value later. The firm would be the first beneficiary of the information developed. As the information is disseminated to the public and the profession, the entire profession benefits.

The goal of this is to provide an opportunity for the profession to undertake development of otherwise unfunded applications of academic research. I don't think there are NCARB units associated with this area. Nonetheless this is an area the profession should support to further the advancement in design that creates value in the industry. This internship would be a minimum 3 months but a maximum of one year.

Operations and Other Concerns
It is unfortunate but the management of such a system would result in creating a new bureaucracy at the AIA. While I dislike the creation of additional overhead, I believe this is an issue which will create more value for the intern, the firm and the profession than it costs by a great measure. When interns who have successfully completed the process and taken the exam they will have greater understanding and usefulness to the firms that will hire them. They will have greater vision and focus for their own careers. They will be better prepared to start their own firms and compete in the market place. The public will have the advantage of accelerated development of architectural ideas and capacities as all firms take up additional research in their own area. The community of architects will benefit as ways to share the research are developed more fully.

Much of the organization and distribution of funds and positions can be done through the use of a specialized jobs database. However I can see that while the monitoring and assigning might proceed on a continuous basis there will need to be monitors and "caseworkers" to help resolve the more difficult placements. Some interns may interview at several firms before selecting a firm that also selects them. I can see local components having the equivalent of "8 minute dating" at "intern fairs" where area firms and interns are coached on meeting each other live and in person. I can see a diversity officer encouraging people to select interns who do not look like themselves. I can see personal coaches being assign to interns who do not interview well. I can see a compliance manager being assigned to notify firms when they need to accept an intern soon or their membership status will be endangered. I can see local and nationally organized information sharing sessions where interns compare notes on what works in their various internship sections. I can also see the development of minimum rules and suggested operational guidelines for firms and ethical training on the equity issues that will be raised. The program might be voluntary in a test phase but allowed to become mandatory in some fashion if the benefits begin to prove out.

Conclusion
Still, the overall outcome of this concept is likely more interns staying in the profession because they have a better defined opportunity to participate and learn after they receive their first degree. They will not be left adrift to work their way into a closed, hostile, or indifferent profession but are essentially placed into an environment which assists them in meeting the requirements of architectural registration. They will not be quite as frustrated upon graduation because they are guaranteed (likely with strings attached) a job that will help them get registered which pays enough for them to live on. Many candidates leave for economic reasons. They simply cannot live on what an intern makes where they have been job hunting. They may be unwilling or unable to take on further debt in order to get registered. The current system makes it too easy to lose diverse candidates while retaining a comfortable mediocrity. People whom you are comfortable with are not necessarily the people who will take you the farthest. We need to allow a better opportunity to keep people in the profession who bring new perspectives and fresh energy-even if it is not what we are used to.