What Colloqate Design does

Colloqate Design is a multidisciplinary nonprofit Design Justice practice structured as a 501(c)(3) organization (EIN 82-1112244), with headquarters in New Orleans, Louisiana and a regional office in Portland, Oregon. The firm operates at the intersection of architecture, urban planning, landscape design, graphic design, public art, community organizing, and policy advocacy, applying a proprietary Design Justice methodology intended to dismantle systems of injustice in the built environment. Core service lines include Architecture and Design Services, Urban Design and Planning, Civic Design and Public Art, Outreach and Engagement, and Design Policy Consultancy.

The firm serves three primary customer segments: the AEC industry (through its four-tier Design Justice Training curriculum, DJ101–DJ401), community organizations and equity-seeking groups (through its Community Design Advocates & Organizers program, which compensates community members as paid project participants), and cities, municipalities, and institutional clients (through participatory planning, visioning, and policy work). Notable projects include the Midland Library renovation with Multnomah County Library, the PCC Opportunity Center with Portland Community College, the Center for Black Student Excellence with Portland Public Schools, the Claiborne Cultural Futures Concept Plan in New Orleans, and the DC MLK Library exhibit with DC Public Library.

Colloqate's business model blends fee-for-service design and consulting engagements, sponsored professional training programs, multi-year grants from major foundations (Kresge, Surdna, Ford, Mellon, Meyer Memorial Trust, Foundation for Louisiana, Autodesk), and tax-deductible charitable donations. Revenue is project-based and proposal-driven, with the CDA/O Training Program launching as a standalone paid offering in 2026 representing a shift toward productized revenue. The firm's go-to-market motion is community-led rather than competitively bid, with deals sourced through direct community and organizational relationships, the Design Justice Summit national convening, and movement-aligned organizing infrastructure rather than traditional AEC business development.

Name

Colloqate Design

Legal name

Colloqate

Website

https://colloqate.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Colloqate Design is a nonprofit Design Justice practice offering architecture, planning, public art, and community organizing services to municipalities, AEC firms, and equity-seeking communities, funded by foundation grants, training fees, and donations across seven U.S. metros.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Architectural and Design Services (Nonprofit Design Justice Practice)

NAICS

Administration of Urban Planning and Community and Rural Development (925120), Landscape Architectural Services (541320)

SIC

Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Urban Planning & Master Planning (BPAHAKAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Community Engagement & Participatory Planning (BPAHAKAO), Landscape Architecture & Site Design (BPAHAKAC), Community Development & Neighborhood Revitalization (CDBG, Place-Based Initiatives) (BPAIANAE)

Keywords

• Design justice consulting
• Community-centered architecture
• Urban planning services
• Design advocacy
• Nonprofit design practice

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans, Louisiana

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Design & Consulting Services: Fee-for-service design and advocacy engagements with cities, libraries, community organizations, schools, and developers. Projects range from small design consultations to full architectural and planning engagements, billed at project budgets that vary by scope and client.
2. Design Justice Training Programs: Professional and community workshops (DJ101, DJ201, DJ301, DJ401) developed as racial and design justice training. Offered as sponsored programs for AEC industry firms, community organizations, and design practices; fee structures are proposal-based.
3. Grants & Program Sponsorship: Multi-year grant funding from private foundations (Kresge, Surdna, Ford, Mellon, Meyer Memorial Trust, etc.) and program sponsorship from allied firms and organizations for Design Justice Trainings, the CDA/O Training Program, Our Power Convenings, and the Design Justice Summit.
4. Charitable Donations: Tax-deductible donations from individuals via credit card, ACH, PayPal, or Venmo. Recurring donations are emphasized as most impactful for sustaining organizing practices. EIN: 82-1112244; registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Colloqate is a multidisciplinary nonprofit Design Justice practice that delivers full-service architecture and design for civic, communal, and cultural spaces, alongside urban design and planning, civic design and public art, outreach and engagement, a four-tier Design Justice Training curriculum (DJ101–DJ401), a paid Community Design Advocates & Organizers (CDA/O) Training Program, design policy consultancy, and the annual Design Justice Summit. Projects are delivered through a CDA/CDO model that pays community members (typically BIPOC) for their time and expertise, integrating architecture and urban design with community organizing and advocacy to dismantle injustice in the built environment.

Product overview

Colloqate Design is a multidisciplinary nonprofit Design Justice practice operating as a single unified organization offering design and advocacy services rather than a software platform. The core offerings consist of Architecture and Design Services (for civic, communal, and cultural spaces), Urban Design + Planning, Civic Design + Public Art, and Outreach + Engagement programs. These are supplemented by the Design Justice Training series (DJ101-DJ401) and the Community Design Advocates & Organizers Training Program. The organization also organizes the Design Justice Summit nationally and offers Design Policy Consultancy services. All work is grounded in design justice theory focused on expanding community access and building power through the design of social, civic, and cultural spaces.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Design Justice Training (DJ101–DJ401) A series of four progressive training sessions (DJ101, DJ201, DJ301, DJ401) exploring privilege and power structures that have defined injustice in the built environment; designed for architects, planners, engineers, and organizations working in spatial design. Offered as one-day (7 hours) or two-day (3.5 hours/day) workshops with content tailored to participants.
• Community Design Advocates & Organizers (CDA/O) Training Program A paid training program that deepens community connections and responsiveness, recruiting community members to work alongside design teams with organizing strategies, Design Justice principles training, and engagement tools.
• Architecture and Design Services Full-service architecture and multidisciplinary design practice for civic, communal, and cultural spaces, including graphic design (print, digital, and environmental), landscape design, and public art.
• Urban Design + Planning Planning at the scale of institutions and neighborhoods dedicated to community engagement processes that advocate for eliminating barriers to justice in the built environment.
• Civic Design + Public Art Collaborative design projects designed to address social issues in public space and drive civic dialogue around pressing social issues.
• Outreach + Engagement Community organizing and implementation of outreach strategies driven by community knowledge and aligned with design justice practice.
• Design Policy Consultancy Advocacy for justice in the built environment through consulting with cities, neighborhoods, and organizations to develop policies and procedures that forward justice in practice.
• Design Justice Summit National summits for design justice practitioners and professionals to explore and take action towards design justice.

Quantifiable outcome

• 14 park and nature projects approved for Metro Council funding through participatory budgeting in District 4, achieving one of the highest participation rates of any participatory budgeting project in the country
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Bora Architecture + InteriorscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLead architect on multiple Portland projects including PCC Opportunity Center (50,000 sf workforce training hub) and Midland Library (30,000 sf renovation and addition). Colloqate led community engagement and design of public spaces.
• PLACE StudiocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLandscape architecture partner on Portland projects including PCC Opportunity Center and Midland Library, collaborating on public space and landscape design within Colloqate's community engagement framework.
• York CollectivecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-designer of York Urban Village — a mixed-use cultural heritage district in Old Town/NW Portland designed as an inter-generational, age-friendly, climate solutions-focused community rooted in Black & Indigenous Liberation.
• Imagine Black (formerly Black Youth Leadership Project)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner in Portland working on racial equity and Black youth leadership. Collaborated on the Center for Black Student Excellence vision plan with Portland Public Schools.
• De Rose Community Bridge & Holistic WellnesscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerColloqate provided schematic design services for a community kitchen and gathering space, and helped secure an additional $300k in grant funds from the City of Portland. DRB serves immigrant and refugee communities with food, mental health services, and youth mentorship.
• Architecture Research Office (ARO)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner on LAUNCH at Floyd Bennett Field (New York) — a transformative education ecosystem project on 1,000 acres in Brooklyn. Colloqate led research and community design sessions.
• SCAPE Landscape ArchitectureminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner on LAUNCH at Floyd Bennett Field (New York) alongside ARO. SCAPE provides landscape architecture expertise for the education ecosystem project.
• Black ArcminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSt. Louis-based community partner in the Re-envisioning the MSI Workhouse project — a visioning process for the future of a closed jail site (23 acres) driven by those most impacted by incarceration.
• Public Design BureauminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborator on Re-envisioning the MSI Workhouse (St. Louis), providing design and planning expertise for community-driven visioning of the former carceral site.
• Dark Matter FacilitationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFacilitation partner on Re-envisioning the MSI Workhouse (St. Louis), supporting the organizing and community engagement process for formerly incarcerated community members.
• Dark Matter UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPhiladelphia-based allied organization focused on design justice education and organizing. Listed as a collaborator alongside Community Design Collaborative.
• National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational partner on multiple projects including Blights Out and LAUNCH School. Bryan Lee Jr. previously led award-winning architecture programs for NOMA. NOMA advances minority architects and design justice in the profession.
• Trinity Park ConservancyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDallas-based partner organization working on urban green space and park development. Nature of collaboration not detailed in source.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• MASS Design Group: Nonprofit architecture and design practice that, like Colloqate, applies design to advance social justice, equity, and public health outcomes. Directly comparable as mission-driven AEC firm integrating community participation, research, and built projects across civic, cultural, and institutional work.
• Dark Matter University: Design justice education and organizing collective that partners with Colloqate on Philadelphia-based work. Directly comparable as an allied organization building Design Justice curricula and a national network of practitioners working at the intersection of design and movement organizing.
• Project Pipeline: Architecture and design pipeline program for underrepresented youth (where Colloqate staff previously directed camps). Directly comparable as a Design Justice-adjacent nonprofit building the next generation of minority design professionals and feeding talent into the AEC industry.
• National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA): National organization advancing minority architects and Design Justice in the profession. Directly comparable as a peer organization where Bryan Lee Jr. previously led programs; NOMA sits at the intersection of advocacy, professional development, and equity-centered design that mirrors Colloqate's positioning.
• Public Design Bureau: Design and planning firm collaborating with Colloqate on the Re-envisioning the MSI Workhouse project. Directly comparable as a small, mission-aligned practice doing community-driven planning and design for justice-impacted communities, with overlapping geographic and methodological scope.
• Design as Protest Collective: Movement partner of Colloqate organizing Design As Protest National Day of Action. Directly comparable as an organizing body mobilizing design professionals around anti-racist practice in the built environment — adjacent rather than substitute, but operating in the same professional-activist space.

Broad incumbents

• Perkins&Will: Global AEC firm with an established 'Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion' practice and significant cultural-institution portfolio. Comparable as a broad incumbent increasingly absorbing equity-design language into mainstream RFPs, competing for the same public-library, school-district, and civic clients.
• SmithGroup: Large integrated design firm with deep civic, cultural, and education portfolio (board member Rosa Sheng is a principal). Comparable as a broad incumbent in the same institutional client space (libraries, schools, public buildings) and increasingly marketing equity-driven design services.
• Studio Gang: Larger established architecture and urban design practice with an explicit social and ecological mission. Comparable as a broader incumbent demonstrating that equity-driven design can scale commercially, and competing for talent, civic clients, and prestige projects in the same cultural-institution space as Colloqate.

Emerging players

• The Just City Lab: Research and design initiative focused on equitable urban planning, with comparable focus on cities, planning, and justice in the built environment. Adjacent peer as an emerging think-and-do tank whose policy and research output could overlap with Colloqate's design-policy consultancy stream.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/colloqate-design
• Instagraminstagram.com/colloqate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Colloqate Design