Five Ways to Get Involved in 2022

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This year has been a big one! We brought on new team members, rebooted programming, and began building our roadmap for the future. We are extremely grateful for what we have accomplished with our small team, Board of Directors, and community partners. Thank you for helping Storefront for Community Design connect community members to design tools and resources and engage the next generation of designers.

We've got big things in store for 2022! Until then, enjoy your holiday season and consider supporting Storefront in the new year through the following opportunities.

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Become a volunteer 

Did we mention we've got big things happening in 2022? We are seeking residents and professionals who are passionate about community voice, equitable design, and collaborative partnerships to join us. We have exciting community engagement initiatives in the city's Downtown and North Side neighborhoods and will be planning for our 10th anniversary celebration. In addition, we are exploring new opportunities in our design education programming. Join us in the new year!

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Design a community gathering space 

We're still looking for a volunteer(s) to help bring a resident's idea of creating an intentional community gathering space to reality. Do you have landscape design experience and would like to help imagine what a community backyard space would look like? Sign up today and let's work together in January! 

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Join our Design Directory

Storefront's Design Session Studio assists community partners with the conceptual stage of a project or idea. For the next steps of the design process, the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Design Directory aims to provide a resource for aspects of design projects that go beyond the scope of Storefront's program. Help us build our community of design professionals.

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Apply for low-cost design assistance

Are you a resident, non-profit organization, small business, or city staff with a design idea related to improving the quality of life in Richmond? If so, check out our new program menus, get connected to our low-cost design and planning assistance program, and let's work together in 2022! 

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Share your insights

Do you know of a resource that would benefit community members helping to shape our city that should be shared more widely? Storefront is planning to open source knowledge on community design and projects in the built environment. Help us collect community resources for our toolkit.  

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Storefront Launches New Low-cost Program Menu

With a goal to increase access to programming, we are excited to launch a new menu for our low-cost design and planning assistance programs! Storefront's program menu provides the opportunity for you to apply based on your needs and the size of your project or idea. Each low-cost program offers three size sessions or actions (small, medium, or large) that provide consultation and connects you to volunteers and design resources.

About Low-cost Design and Planning Assistance

Storefront’s low-cost design and planning assistance program includes our Design Session Studio and Community Engagement Studio. Since 2011, Storefront has completed over 325 design sessions and 25 community engagement initiatives. This program has provided hundreds of Richmonders design and planning assistance at a low-cost that is subsidized by our generous supporters.

The need for low-cost design and planning assistance through our Design Session Studio and Community Engagement Studio has been evident and as community requests evolve, we will continue to adapt to the changing times to assist with varying community-initiated projects. Our program and project focus areas include Environmental and Food Justice, Health and Wellness, Community Organizing, Placemaking/Placekeeping, Economic Development, and Design/Planning Tools.

image: program and project focus areas

About Design Session

Design Session provides Richmonders design and planning assistance at an intimate, approachable level. Our team maintains a network of over 180 volunteer professional planners, architects, landscape architects, and designers who are available to help with a range of projects, from community-led ideas for an urban mini-farm in a food desert to guidance on facade improvements for small businesses. Generally, our volunteers are here to offer assistance on the conceptual design phase of the design process, in which the designer works with you to define goals and illustrate a few ideas based on the need.

About Community Engagement

Community engagement is hands-on democracy to understand communities, honor differences, and empower grassroots neighborhood transformation. Storefront convenes community workshops, design discussions, and events with residents, youth and young adults, non-profit organizations, neighborhood associations, and City staff. During a time of rapid growth, Storefront understands the need to leverage the creativity within our communities who best understand the challenges that impede change in the built environment and new methods are necessary to amplify community voice.

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image: as part of Design Session request from RVA Community Fridges, a team of mOb students sketched options for the development of a modular shelter system that can be used for various fridge locations. (Refer to Large Session in the Program Menu)

Get Connected!

Are you a resident, youth or young adult, non-profit organization, neighborhood, or City staff member with an idea and interested to get connected to our low-cost design and planning assistance program? If so, take the following actions to get started and see if your project or idea aligns with Storefront.

1. Check out our Design Session Studio and Community Engagement Studio to learn where your idea fits best.

2. Answer a few questions to ensure your idea aligns with our mission.

3. Explore the small, medium, and large options to understand who is involved, project timeline, and potential outcomes.

4. Complete the form for your session or action.

Recapping the 2021 Golden Hammer Awards

credit: Magali Photos

Storefront for Community Design and Historic Richmond hosted the 2021 Golden Hammer Awards on October 28 at Hardywood Brewery. As Richmond-area non-profits with interests in historic preservation and neighborhood revitalization, we were delighted to co-present the awards for the fifth year and recognize professionals working in neighborhood revitalization, blight reduction, and historic preservation in the Richmond region.

The Golden Hammer Awards were started in 2000 with a goal of honoring excellence in neighborhood revitalization projects throughout Greater Richmond. For over 20 years, we have celebrated our nominees and award winners in person but in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic, we hosted a virtual announcement of the awards on our websites and through social media. It was great to be back in person this year to celebrate with so many friends, family, and colleagues!

This year, the collective work of our nominees reflected innovative solutions to address contemporary issues, marking progress towards a more vibrant and equitable Richmond. Thank you to all of our nominees, award attendees, and to our sponsors: Williams Mullen, Dunbar, SingleStone, Baskervill, and Thompson Consulting Engineers. We can't wait to see what you do next year!

credit: Magali Photos

credit: Magali Photos

credit: Magali Photos

And the Golden Hammer Award goes to…

Categories included:

Best Adaptive Reuse: Includes projects that were rehabilitated for a new use, multi-family residential and historic tax credit projects welcome.

• WINNER: Hatch Kitchen RVA at Clopton Siteworks

• WINNER: Cooperage II

Hybrid Award for Healthy and Sustainable Workspaces:

• WINNER: Collaborative Work Space/The Emerald Barn!

Hybrid Award for Urban Trends in Creativity and Collaboration:

• WINNER: Arts and Letters Creative Co.

Best New Construction: Includes neighborhood infill.

• WINNER: Bringing Families Home

Best Placemaking: Arts and culture projects, park and green-space projects, transportation and infrastructure projects, or other neighborhood enhancing features.

• WINNER: The JXN Project – Unveiling The Vanguard: A Virtual Experience

• WINNER: Low Line Green

• WINNER: Church Hill North and Kitchens at Reynolds

Best Residential: Single-family residential projects.

• WINNER: 805 Chimborazo Boulevard

• WINNER: Villacarillo Residence!

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2021 Golden Hammer Nominations

Check out all of the 2021 Golden Hammer nominees and winners here.

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Six Points Innovation Center Makeover and In-Kind Requests

This summer marked Six Points Innovation Center’s (6PIC) 4th anniversary. Storefront for Community Design opened 6PIC in June 2017, in collaboration with four other partner non-profit organizations, to provide a collaborative work space to express creativity, help youth learn a multitude of skills, and, most of all, connect with community members.

To celebrate, 6PIC partners decided to begin rebuilding from the inside out. The partners worked on two projects that would provide a makeover to the space before resuming operations, space rentals, and programming in the fall of 2021. The first project was a collaboration with Storefront’s Design Session Studio to create a vision for the interior space. The second project included a collaboration with Mending Walls and HandsOn Greater Richmond to refresh and repaint the space.

We Need Your Help!
As we look to the fall semester, we are still in need of in-kind furniture donations. Check out the 6PIC Interior Space Design Session below for an itemized list of furniture and contact us if you have potential donations!

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Project #1: 6PIC Interior Space Design Session

In May, Storefront staff and 6PIC partners met with Joy Whitehurst, Storefront’s Design Session volunteer to design a plan to re envision and re-invigorate the 6PIC space. The first meeting provided the opportunity for partners to share how they use the space and provide input on design ideas. It was unanimous that the space needed to remain flexible for a multitude of uses. In June, Joy finished up her design concepts and presented them to the partners. It was exciting to see the varying ways the space could be used and how new furniture could make the most impact for future programming. The plans provided a vision that has helped 6PIC partners remodel the space over the summer and discover fun and flexible furnishings.

Joy Whitehurst, Storefront Design Session volunteer, presents layout options for the 6PIC space.

Stationary and flexible furniture ideas for the 6PIC space

We Need Your Help With In-Kind Contributions!
The 6PIC space is still in need of in-kind furniture donations. We are looking for lightly used modern furniture that aligns with the furniture ideas image shown above. We have also listed specific items below. Contact us if you have potential donations!

• Moveable desks and tables

• Stools

• Desk chairs with wheels

• Book shelves

• Couch (or two!)

• Smart TV

• White board on wheels

No furniture to donate? No worries! Give today to provide funding that makes it possible for Storefront and 6PIC partners to continue providing a youth-driven, non-profit collective space in Richmond's Northside.

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Project #2: Collaboration with Mending Walls and HandsOn Greater Richmond

On what seemed like the hottest day in July, 6PIC partners indulged in a little self care. It took two days and 20 volunteers each day to move furniture in the 6PIC building, clean the space, and add a fresh coat of paint alongside the original Hamilton Glass mural.

Hamilton Glass, a former architect, is the creator of Mending Walls, a public art project designed to bring artists of different backgrounds together to create a space for conversation. Glass returned to Highland Park this time to support artist Khalid Thompson and Julianna Bustillo as they partnered with the Richmond Association of Black Social Workers to create a mural that exemplified symbols that represent their guiding principles and align with Storefront’s values of creativity, inclusion, and diversity.

“Your thoughts create your reality and your environment impacts your thoughts. Although we have been eager to open and meet the needs of our young people, we have to be mindful and intentional about the space and energy we are bringing them into.”

— Kai Banks, Youth Innovation Director at Storefront for Community Design

A huge THANK YOU goes out to Mending Walls, Handson Greater Richmond, Storefront’s Design Session Studio, and all of our volunteers who helped with 6PIC’s makeover throughout the summer!

Storefront Summer Volunteer Opportunities

A huge THANKS to those who completed the Storefront for Community Design Get to Know You Survey this spring. We will be using your feedback to develop new volunteer opportunities and will launch a new volunteer form later this summer — be on the lookout! Until then, we have a few exciting volunteer opportunities taking place this summer. These include:

1. Studio Program Working Groups: Participate in discussions to enhance future programming.

2. 10th Anniversary Event Design & Planning: Plan a celebration for Storefront’s 10th anniversary.

3. Teen Workforce Design Workshop: Plan and participate in a workshop for teenagers that are designing a food forest.

4. Participatory Budgeting Initiative: Participate in a new initiative that gives residents direct access to their tax dollars.

See below for more information. We are looking for volunteers with varying interests and expertise, so don’t be bashful to get involved! If you are interested in volunteering, be sure to complete the form specific to each opportunity by Wednesday, June 30. If you have any questions, please email hello@storefrontrichmond.org. We look forward to hearing from you!

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Volunteer Opportunity #1: Studio Program Working Groups

Storefront staff are developing new projects and partnerships for our three studio programs and searching for community volunteers to join our working groups to share your thoughts and ideas. We are currently planning for each working group to meet up to three times this year and kick starting the conversation in mid-summer. If you are interested in joining a working group, please complete the form below.

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Volunteer Opportunity #2: 10th Anniversary Event design & Planning

This year marks Storefront’s 10th Anniversary and we have begun planning for a celebration in the fall. We are looking for volunteers who are interested to share ideas, contribute planning skills, and develop/design materials. If you love planning events or want to join the group to brainstorm ideas and materials, please complete the form below.

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Volunteer Opportunity #3: Teen Workforce Design Workshop

Storefront is partnering with Richmond's Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities’ (PRCF) Teen Workforce Program. Storefront staff and volunteers will plan and participate in a two-day workshop to teach teens about design and help them create a landscape plan for a food forest.

Storefront is looking for landscape designers, landscape architects, horticulturalists, and other subject-matter experts to help plan and participate in the workshop that will take place on August 2-3 from 8:00am-1:00pm. Commitment includes attendance at the kick off meeting in mid-July to plan the workshop and attendance at the two-day workshop. We encourage individuals or design firms to sign up!

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Volunteer Opportunity #4: participatory budgeting initiative

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a new paradigm providing an avenue for community members to engage in a democratic process that gives residents direct access to their tax dollars and allows them to guide where that money will go. In 2021, the initiative has picked up steam and Storefront for Community Design has joined a team of community collaborators to convene, develop, and implement the process in Richmond.

There’s two great opportunities to get involved in the city and Storefront’s initiative!

PB Opportunity #1: Take action and get involved with Storefront for Community Design’s PB Initiative. Follow the link below to sign up for the following opportunities:

1. Participate on the Storefront for Community Design Volunteer Group that may include opportunities to assist the City PB Steering Commission in developing the PB rulebook and opportunities to volunteer in future community engagement workshops.

2. Volunteer in future Participatory Budgeting Initiatives and workshops that take place in your community / Voter District.

PB Opportunity #2: Take action and become a member of the Participatory Budgeting Steering Commission. On February 8, 2021, City Council adopted Ord. No. 2020-256, which established the PB Steering Commission to formulate the standards and procedures. Follow the link below to review the application and apply by July 1, 2021.

Storefront Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Each year, Valentine’s Day reminds us to purposefully demonstrate love, care, and support for our families, friends, and communities. This year’s holiday also marks Storefront for Community Design’s 10th anniversary and we want to shout a huge THANK YOU for your support in making our first ten years a success.

Since the beginning, we set out to make design accessible to all “for the love of our city.” Through partnerships and community collaborations, we continue to discover new ways of seeking Richmond's physical and social transformation through design and community voice. After an incredible ten years, we remain humble, yet excited for the possibilities that lie ahead for our organization, partners, and neighbors.

Our Board of Directors, staff, and partners are excited to celebrate this milestone anniversary throughout the year, so stay tuned for ways to get involved. To kickstart our celebration, here’s a few ways you can show your support today.

• Donate to Storefront to support our next ten years

• Volunteer as a Session Designer

• Share our story with your network

Whether you’ve been with Storefront from the beginning or just a short time, we wanted to celebrate our anniversary with a look back over the last ten years. Enjoy the memories and accomplishments of our community and we look forward to making many more with you in the coming years. Now, it’s time to celebrate!

image: Timeline of Storefront Milestones

2009: The Beginning

Sometime in 2009, Storefront Founding member Burt Pinnock, FAIA, NOMA, received a call from Cynthia Newbille, 7th Voter District Council Representative. The Old and Historic District (O&HD) had been expanded in her district and she wanted to figure out how to bring design services to her constituents, many of whom lived below the poverty line. With the added design overlay of an O&HD, things like adding a ramp or replacing windows became that much more complicated for community members.

Soon after, he connected with others who were convinced that a city-wide design center was desperately needed. With a vote of confidence from the City Council, Storefront was founded on February 14, 2011 in the East End of Richmond on 25th Street. Additional founding Partners included community members, members of the Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods, affordable housing developers, City of Richmond Planning and Economic Development departments, members from VCU’s Urban and Regional Planning program, and practicing architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and preservationists.

Storefront set out to make design accessible to all “for the love of our city” by providing pro bono design and planning assistance to support local businesses, residences, organizations, and neighborhoods. Think of Storefront as the architecture, design, and planning equivalent of legal aid for a free clinic. Our services would soon connect Richmonders to one another in a variety of ways, with the end goal of seeing an improved quality of life for all residents of the City of Richmond.

2011-2014

In 2011, Storefront’s programming included Community Workshops, Community Improvement Days, and Design Session. To this day, our Community Workshops and Design Sessions have been the lynchpin throughout our programming. Community workshops have facilitated public input and engagement offerings for neighborhood, civic, merchant, and friends’ associations throughout the city; Design Session has provided a pro bono design assistance program that offers one-on-one advise, sketches, and plans of action from volunteer design and planning professionals; and Community Improvement Days have created a way of gathering volunteers to add fresh coats of paint, plant trees and flowers, and pick-up trash in our neighborhoods. Since 2011, Storefront has completed over 300 Design Sessions, over 25 community engagement processes and workshops, and 10 design education series with an estimated value of services well over $300,000

In 2012, Storefront partnered with mOb studiO (short for “Middle of Broad”), an interdisciplinary, service-learning design lab consisting of three VCUarts design departments: fashion, graphic, and interior design. The studio provides the opportunity for up to 30 students to participate during the semester. After joining forces, we moved our office to the Art & Cultural District at 205 E. Broad Street creating a collaborative workspace with mOb studiO. Since our conjunction, we continue to administer our community design and civic advocacy programs from this space and open our doors every First Friday to showcase design, process, and community engagement work as part of the Arts & Cultural District’s Art Walk where more than 8,000 people have visited our storefront.

image: mOb studiO; Final poster project to educate community members on the benefits of a food forest

2014-2017

In July 2014, we were named “Best of Richmond” in the categories of Urban Planning and Community Development by Richmond Magazine. At that time, we also embarked in a three-year partnership with Richmond Behavioral Health Authority (RBHA) and mOb studiO to co-create and destigmatize mental illness through our Recovery by Design program. After a successful first year, we received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to continue engaging in “making” with over 90 participants recovering from addiction, intellectual disabilities, and mental illness. Through pre- and post-interviews, we learned that participants showed improvements in sociability and expressed general excitement in skill building.

While our clients are Richmonders, we are part of a larger national movement of community design. In 2015, we hosted the Association for Community Design’s national conference, drawing more than 175 attendees from 18 major cities where we had the opportunity to talk with our national neighbors as well as our next door neighbors in the heart of Richmond’s Art & Cultural District.

In our early years, we began focusing on community organizing in Northside’s Highland Park neighborhood where we built on six years of engagement efforts as part of the Highland Park Quality of Life development and implementation plan. A major request of the quality of life planning process was to strengthen the neighborhood youth. With this in mind, Storefront led the idea of the Six Points Innovation Center (6PIC), a teen serving, non-profit collaborative in Highland Park.

In 2016, Storefront received funding through the Robins Foundation Community Innovation Grant to open 6PIC in partnership with four non-profits including Art 180, Groundwork RVA, Saving Our Youth Virginia, and Untold RVA. After additional fundraising, design, and build-out of the space, 6PIC opened in June 2017 providing a resource and engagement outlet that serves an average of 20 youth per day while providing a space for Storefront’s presence in the Northside. Since opening, 6PIC continues to be an evolving partnership between Storefront, Groundwork RVA, Saving Our Youth Virginia, ART 180, Boaz & Ruth, Community 50/50, Untold RVA, the Association of Black Social Workers (ABSW), RVA Rapid Transit, Virginia LISC, Community Preservation and Development Corporation (CPDC), the Highland park Quality of Life Team, and Richmond Public High School students.

image: Youth Innovation programming at Six Points Innovation Center (6PIC)

Since 2000, the Golden Hammer Awards have honored excellence in neighborhood revitalization projects throughout greater Richmond. In 2017, the Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods (ACORN) disbanded and Storefront (with the support from Better Housing Coalition) and Historic Richmond partnered to administer and co-host the Golden Hammer Awards and gearing up for our fifth year of successfully highlighting excellence in our communities.

2018-2020

In 2018, 6PIC partners completed a strategic planning and evaluation process to define how the layered, integrated services of multiple non-profits can overlap and intentionally improve equity and health in the community. This launched the City Builders program with support from Richmond Memorial Health Foundation and Capital One. The vision of City Builders realizes 6PIC’s mission of growing urban youth leaders and advances civic power for Northside residents through place-making projects and neighborhood-based skill building in program areas offered by 6PIC partners.

In 2019, Storefront and mOb studiO hosted a nationwide architecture and youth competition funded by the NEA Artworks to consider how to re-present the history and figures monumentalized on Monument Avenue. The competition, called Monument Avenue: General Demotion/General Devotion, asked participants to reconsider Monument Avenue through its role as a historic urban boulevard, its viability as a 5.4-mile interurban connector, its presence in Richmond given the city’s emergence as a diverse and progressive city, its significance in the history of the United States, and the debate about Confederate statues in public spaces. The exhibition of competition finalists opened on February 14, 2019 at the Valentine Museum.

image: Monument Avenue: General Demotion/General Devotion Exhibition at the Valentine Museum

In late fall 2019, Storefront’s Board of Directors and staff engaged in a workshop to help shape and guide the Strategic Planning process and the future of Storefront programming. Key partners and stakeholders throughout the community were involved to develop a plan that represented the transition from idea-rich conversations to a strategy that would strengthen the organization and hone our impact in the future. The Board for Directors and staff have used this document to begin program implementation and plan for future staffing and operations.

2021: Here’s to Ten More Years!

In early 2021, Storefront announced the selection of our new Executive Director and Center Director making this an ideal moment to reflect upon the progress we’ve made to assist in creating more equitable communities and establish a vision moving forward; an opportunity to discover how we can better align and advocate to the current needs of our communities and future development trends around the City of Richmond. Planning has begun on the following goals and we look forward to working with you to realize our vision in the coming years.

• Craft Storefront’s brand messaging to engage individuals unfamiliar with our purpose

• Build on the successes of our Design Session program by increasing opportunities for low-cost design assistance

• Develop an innovative community engagement methodology for Storefront programming and to share with community members

• Increase the Youth Innovation Studio through robust curriculum development and innovative design programming

• Develop new resources and toolkits to share with neighbors around the city

Let’s get to work!
Press Release

Storefront Welcomes New Executive Director and Youth Innovation Director

Storefront for Community Design is excited to announce the selection of Shawn Balon as its new Executive Director.

Shawn brings a wealth of experience in design, non-profit, and educational environments with expanded knowledge of organizational management and strategic planning. He has the strategic vision necessary to elevate Storefront for Community Design and its programs in the years to come and will bring a creative, innovative, and collaborative approach when working with staff, board members, donors, partners, volunteers, and the community-at-large.

“I appreciate the board’s confidence in me, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to lead such a great organization. It will take innovative and purposeful solutions to create a path for Storefront for Community Design to continue addressing the challenges in our communities, and I look forward to advancing my efforts to focus on the importance of participatory design to honor differences, challenge injustices, and create vibrant neighborhoods,” said Balon.

In addition to the arrival of our new Executive Director, we are thrilled to welcome Kai Banks as the new Youth Innovation Director. Kai has extensive experience working in communities around the City of Richmond for the past seven years and has connected with various partners, businesses, and organizations to manage and supervise programs that bring social change to youth and families. She brings exceptional communication skills, leadership, and innovative thinking and is prepared to analyze needs and create unique solutions designed to provide growth to the community.

“I am honored to join Storefront for Community Design as Director of the Highland Park Six Points Innovation Center (6PIC) to develop equitable and culturally responsive strategies in conjunction with the community and other partners. I am committed to bridging the gap for marginalized communities by listening to their needs and providing education, opportunity, and resources so they can accomplish their goals,” said Banks.

Shawn assumed his duties as Executive Director on January 4 and we welcome Kai to her duties as 6PIC Director on January 19. We are excited to introduce our dynamic team of Board of Directors and staff to elevate Storefront’s mission in the coming years.

As we celebrate our 10th anniversary this year, we reflect upon the progress we’ve made to assist in creating more equitable communities. At Storefront, we believe design, when guided by community priorities, has the power to offer tangible solutions to community challenges. We will continue to provide a space for stakeholders to gather and engage in bold and difficult conversations with the goal of creating new models of leadership and community engagement around neighborhood development.

We have provided a link to our press release announcing Shawn, Kai, and our ten year anniversary.

In Community,

Bernard Harkless
Board Chair

Shawn Balon, Executive Director (left); Kai Banks, Youth Innovation Director (right)
images: Kim Peters

About Shawn Balon
Shawn has worked in the design, education, and non-profit sectors throughout the U.S. Prior to joining Storefront for Community Design, his work as a landscape architect and urban designer provided experience domestically and internationally combining graphic communications, conceptual design, community engagement, master planning, and project management. At the American Society of Landscape Architects, Shawn developed and managed the career discovery and diversity strategic work plan increasing awareness of design career opportunities to youth. At the George Washington University and Reynolds Community College he served as adjunct professor where he taught technical and drawing courses. Shawn graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Degree and received a Master of Science in Urban Design Degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

About Kai Banks
Kai is a Richmond native. She is currently attending Virginia Commonwealth University pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science with a Non-Profit Management minor. Banks is an AmeriCorps (ACES) Action for Enhancement Services Alum. During her term with ACES, she served as a co-conspirator for several non-profit organizations including The Relationship Foundation of Virginia, Girls for a Change, Higher Achievement, and the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club under the strengthening families’ initiative. She is a trained facilitator on an array of topics such as conflict resolution, trauma, social change, food access, and healthy relationships. Most recently, as an Outreach Specialist for the Richmond Food Justice Alliance, her efforts have been focused on inclusive community engagement around healthy food access and policy.

An Equitable Richmond

Dear Storefront Family and Friends,

The senseless murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, along with the shootings of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery and so many lives before them still leave me speechless.  To the Black and Brown communities, families, and youth that we serve:  know that we see you, we love you, and we’re here for you.

Systemic racism and injustice are diseases that still plague our country and have directly impacted communities of color, more specifically African Americans.  This disease is not just limited to corporate America.  It manifests itself in the built environment all around us; the places where we live and work.  From redlining to urban renewal, there are countless examples of policies that have created hierarchies within the larger context of the city.  Not all neighborhoods are considered equal, and not all individuals have access to the same opportunities for economic prosperity.  This is no different in our city…and that’s why Storefront was created.

Storefront’s Monument Avenue exhibit at the Valentine demonstrated our commitment to shining light on the issues of injustice.  The civil war iconography of Monument Ave has served as a mechanism used to further divide our city for generations.  The historical decision to remove these monuments is a momentous step to heal a city that was built upon division.  This is a significant milestone in creating a more just city, but let us not lose sight of the primary goal of this struggle, economic prosperity.  Most specifically, economic prosperity for our communities that have historically been disenfranchised.

At Storefront, we strive to be a partner in navigating these challenging times, hand in hand with the communities we serve.  We support the creation of spaces that cultivate innovation, collaboration, healing, equity and growth.  We also connect people to design tools, resources, and creative spaces that will assist in developing a new generation of community designers and planners.

Through the work with our partners at the Six Points Innovation Center, we are working to teach youth and their families about land use policies that have shaped the communities in which they reside.  This community is teaching us how to design and build in ways that support and enhance the quality of their lives and the lives of their children.  Our hope is to build a more equitable Richmond where everyone has what they need to thrive, no matter where they live and regardless of their race, ethnicity, or socio-economic status.

Storefront’s work is more significant now than it ever has been.  Our ability to combine design tools and creativity to some of the most intractable issues in our built environment provide hope for Black and Brown communities to contribute to the economic progress that exists around them.

We believe design, when guided by community priorities, has the power to offer tangible solutions to community challenges.  We hope that the physical and social space we provide for stakeholders to gather and engage in bold and difficult conversations, can be the impetus for new models of leadership and community engagement around neighborhood development.  May we empower individuals, more specifically Black people and people of color to shape the future of the city.

People Matter.
The Community Voice Matters.
Black Lives Matter.

In community,
Bernard Harkless
Board Chair, Interim Executive Director

Richmond Magazine: Designs Within Reach

We recently got to share a few projects at mOb studio + Storefront for Community Design with Richmond Magazine and how it all got started. Full interview by Taylor Peterson published on Feb 7, 2020 below:

“There’s no doubt Richmond has changed over the past several years. From 2010 to 2018, the region’s population increased by 12%, ranking as the 44th most populous metropolitan area in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This increase has led to many exciting ventures, from new restaurants to renovated parks. As a city, how can we ensure that everyone reaps the benefits of our growth?

In 2011, Storefront for Community Design, a Richmond-based nonprofit design center, came into existence as an answer to some of these complex questions. Co-founder Burt Pinnock remembers conversations with planners, builders, educators and politicians who were interested in bringing an accessible design resource to Richmond.

“There are residential neighborhoods in historic districts where you have certain requirements to fix the home,” Pinnock explains. “These districts are in some of the more economically challenged communities, where they don’t have resources to hire architects ... to add a ramp to their house, for example.”

“Design provides a vision rather than a … volatile position.” —Camden Whitehead, co-founder, Mob Studio

In collaboration with community partners and volunteers, Storefront offers conceptual work, planning, landscaping, building and designing. The group strategically plans its outreach through affordable design assistance, youth empowerment and community advocacy. 

Block Blitz, Storefront’s recurring beautification effort, organizes volunteers and supplies to clean buildings and add plantings in communities such as Brookland Park, Spring Hill, Fulton Hill and Westhampton. However, the bulk of the organization’s projects stem from a program called Design Session, an affordable application-based design service. According to the program’s manager, Anya Shcherbakova, the services are available to all and not just those who can approach an architecture or design firm.

“Some people don’t know these resources exist,” Shcherbakova explains. “That’s where we come in, to support that knowledge and also learn from the community.”

One way Storefront bridges this gap is through its youth empowerment programs. In 2017, Storefront opened the Six Points Innovation Center (6PIC) in Highland Park in collaboration with Saving Our Youth, Groundwork RVA, Community 50/50, I AM MY LIFE, Untold RVA and Art 180. With their name representative of a prominent six-point roundabout in the community, 6PIC uses a “City Builder Model” to empower young residents to facilitate change in their city.

The program doesn’t shy away from the tough issues the community faces. Recently, 6PIC collaborated with Saving Our Youth and RVA Eviction Lab to present projects about Richmond’s growing eviction rates. Richmond has the second highest eviction rate in the country at 11%, according to RVA Eviction Lab.

Participants have also partnered with GroundworkRVA, a nonprofit focusing on green construction and urban agriculture, to design and place trash cans in the neighborhood. Kim Gomez, resource mentor at 6PIC, says giving the youth more control over these projects has helped develop a sense of community ownership, which she hopes can inspire them to create a version of Richmond they can see themselves in.

“Youth have a little more of that energetic charge to make that change,” Gomez says. “Sometimes, as adults, we need that.”

At its Broad Street location, Storefront partners with VCU’s Middle of Broad (Mob) Studio, a class within the School of the Arts. Students in the course work directly with the community, taking on projects ranging from a design-build for Gilpin Court’s Community Farm to interactive recipe walls at the VCU Health Hub in Richmond’s East End. 

Most notably, Mob Studio and Storefront collaborated with The Valentine in a national design competition, “Monument Avenue: General Demotion/General Devotion,” to reimagine the statues on Monument Avenue. Four winners were awarded, and finalists had their work featured in a 10-month exhibition at The Valentine, which ended last December. 

Mob Studio also hosted a series of community forums to discuss proposals and ideas for Monument Avenue. For Camden Whitehead, associate professor at VCU and co-founder of Mob Studio, tackling this tough issue through the lens of design allowed a more productive conversation to take place.

“Design provides a vision rather than a ... volatile position,” Whitehead explains. “[When you] have 70 visions in front of people, they end up talking more about their vision and not that their grandfather fought in the Civil War.”

Aside from producing groundbreaking work, Storefront also recognizes the achievements of other designers, big and small, through the annual Golden Hammer Awards in partnership with Historic Richmond. Students from Mob Studio designed the trophy awarded to winners in renovations, green design and affordable housing.

“It’s hard to make things,” Whitehead says. “We want to recognize not only when people make them, but make them well.”

Having recently appointed new Executive Director André Taybron, Storefront is positioned to begin a new phase. Taybron says he is excited to lead Storefront as it continues to help improve the quality of life in Richmond through design and planning.”

Golden Hammer Awards 2019 are now OPEN!

2019 GOLDEN HAMMER AWARDS WELCOMES NOMINATIONS

Richmond, VA – June 4, 2019 – Historic Richmond + Storefront for Community Design will co-host the Golden Hammer Awards on Thursday, October 24, 2019 at the historic Monumental Church. Nomination information for the 2019 Golden Hammer Awards can be found at historicrichmond.com/2019-golden-hammer-awards. Applications must be submitted before 12:00 p.m. (Midnight) on September 8, 2019. The 2019 Golden Hammer Awards are sponsored by Quinn Evans and Atlantic Union Bank.

Historic Richmond Executive Director Cyane Crump said, “We are thrilled to celebrate the projects bringing new life to our historic built environment and the impact they have on our neighborhoods and community. The Golden Hammer Awards aligns with the mission and values of both Historic Richmond and Storefront for Community Design. We are excited to continue this partnership for the third year!”

Projects completed after January 1, 2018 located in the greater Richmond area (City of Richmond, counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, and Henrico) will be considered for the categories of: Best Restoration, Best Adaptive Reuse, Best New Construction, Best Placemaking, and Best Residential.

“With over 30 submissions last year, and the high quality of work, craftsmanship, and the scale of the nominations, we were delighted to award 10 Golden Hammers!” said Ryan Rinn, Executive Director of Storefront for Community Design. “Teamwork and partnerships have always been critical to preservation and placemaking in Richmond and we look forward to another year of high quality submissions.”

Contact:
Katherine McDonald, (804) 643-7407
kmcdonald@historicrichmond.com
Ryan Rinn, (804) 322-9556
ryan@storefrontrichmond.org

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About the Golden Hammer Awards. The Golden Hammer Awards were started in 2000 with a goal of honoring excellence in neighborhood revitalization projects thought Greater Richmond. In 2018, 10 projects were awarded the coveted Golden Hammer Award designed by Richmond artist Jason Adkins. Winners included the Richmond Ballet, 1717 Innovation Center, Jefferson Green Condominiums, Monroe Park, the Institute for Contemporary Art, 125 N. 25th Street, 2013 & 2015 Venable Street, Holly Lawn, Main Street Station Train Shed, and Ellwood Thompson’s the Round Building.

About Storefront for Community Design. Storefront for Community Design is Richmond, Virginia’s nonprofit design resource center. Storefront improves the quality of life in the city by facilitating access to planning and design resources. Storefront matches professional designers who volunteer their time with members of the community to uncover Richmond’s urban potential. Visit storefrontrichmond.org, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @StorefrontRVA.

About Historic Richmond. Historic Richmond is a non-profit organization dedicated to shaping the future of Richmond by preserving our distinctive historic character, sparking revitalization and championing our past and future architectural legacy. We are champions of the past and passionate fans of its future. Visit HistoricRichmond.com, join us on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram @historicRVA.

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Awards Ceremony

Thursday, October 24, 2019
Monumental Church
1224 E. Broad Street
Reception & Awards 6:00-8:00 p.m.