[10 Years, 10 Stories of Impact series]

In 2014, Storefront staff members attended the Association for Community Design’s (ACD) national conference in Detroit. The semiannual ACD Conference seeks to share best practices of community design, build coalitions among practitioners, and facilitate exchanges between national practitioners and local organizations.

As staff met people from across the country involved in community design and learned about strategies other cities were using to engage with their communities, they knew they needed to bring this conference to Richmond. After submitting a proposal to host the 2015 conference, Storefront’s “Neighbors” theme was chosen! The theme sought to bring the focus back to that most basic unit of the community. While learning from other cities is important, the focus on neighbors reminded participants that it is critical to take into account the people of each unique community rather than simply replicate programs of others.

[10 Years, 10 Stories of Impact series]

It all began with a serendipitous ask for a gallery space to host an Annual Art of Recovery Art Show as part of National Recovery Month. The stars aligned when Laura Minnick, Coordinator of Consumer and Family Affairs at Richmond Behavioral Health Authority (RBHA), was attending a Board meeting where a colleague mentioned Storefront for Community Design as a potential location to hold the next art exhibit. RBHA reached out to Storefront and a partnership would soon blossom that not only included a one-time art exhibit, but an eight-week summer session for adults with lived experience of mental illness and/or substance use disorder.

Storefront collaborated with the faculty of mOb studio and RBHA to write two successive National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grants that would provide funding to plan, host, and facilitate multiple summer sessions. In March 2014, the journey of discovery and healing began for each of the 43 participants involved in the program.

[10 Years, 10 Stories of Impact series]

Ms. Mary Thompson has lived in her Church Hill home for 69 years and invested long-term in the community to energize and inspire residents to advocate for positive change. She remembers Church Hill as a beautiful community with vibrant local businesses like the ice cream shop and bakery that disappeared over time as urban blight increased. Ms. Thompson was serious about bringing change to her neighborhood and was committed to collaborating with non-profits, community developers, and community partners to create a vision shaped by community voice.

Storefront for Community Design was lucky enough to have Ms. Thompson as a founding member who brought her experience and voice to the table as the organization began working in Richmond’s East End. Throughout Storefront’s early years, she continued to be an advocate for our mission and even used our design and planning services to help create a vision to remodel her kitchen.

[10 Years, 10 Stories of Impact series]

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. Local design professionals and community members were aware of community design centers in other cities and recognized the need for something similar here in Richmond.

The Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods (ACORN) was instrumental in facilitating the community dialogue that led to the creation of Storefront for Community Design. Additional founding Partners included community members, 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.