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.
New Year, New Skills
This semester, Storefront is running a series of monthly workshops for youth at the Six Points Innovation Center (6PIC). Youth will learn design skills tailored to the needs of the space and themselves. Last night we learned how to stitch together notebooks and wrote messages to our future selves. The schedule for upcoming months includes:
February: Furniture Design
March: T-shirt Making Workshop
April: Typography Workshop
May: Logo Workshop
6PIC Center Director, Jackie Washington, Named Robert Wood Johnson Culture of Health Leader
Storefront for Community Design is excited to announce that Jacqulyn “Jackie” Washington, center director of the Six Points Innovation Center (6PIC), and community engagement liaison for Storefront for Community Design has been selected to participate in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Culture of Health Leadership program. This program is designed to equip leaders across the country - in every sector and field - to collaborate, break down silos, and use their influence to make communities healthier and more equitable.
The Culture of Health Leadership Program fosters cross-sector collaboration and enables participants to remain in their homes and occupations while directly applying everything they learn to improving health policy and practice in their communities and organizations. The three-year program provides participants with an annual stipend of up to $20,000.
As a member of the program’s newest cohort, Jackie will focus on community trauma and community healing for communities of color drawing on her social work background and her experiences working with young people at 6PIC. Jackie envisions a culture of health that unpacks the effects of contemporary and historical racism in the ways our communities have been shaped through planning and policy decisions. This culture of health equips the next generation with the knowledge, skill, income, and time to participate in candid, resident-powered, place-based solutions that halt cycles of displacement and promote self-sustained healing. Jackie will also benefit from a high caliber curricula, coaching from national leaders, collaboration with other cutting-edge thinkers from across the country, and growing her ability to build healthier more resilient communities here in Richmond.
“The Storefront for Community Design’s Board of Directors and continue to be inspired by the community-led work Jackie has embodied since joining the team in 2016,” said Storefront executive director, Ryan Rinn. “We’re even more excited to see the impact this opportunity will allow her to make in the City of Richmond. Over the next three years, Jackie will help shape the national conversation about our culture of health and build on Richmond’s 2017 Culture of Health Prize from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.”
6PIC turns 1!
6PIC's one year anniversary is June 6th! Come say Happy Birthday!
Join us on Wednesday, June 6th 5:30-8:00 for food, dancing, door prizes and 6PIC updates!
Can't meet us? There are still ways to support 6PIC and youth empowerment in Highland Park. Storefront for Community Design is celebrating 6PIC’s 1-year birthday by working to secure many more years of youth empowerment and community ownership in Highland Park.
Join our 100x100 Challenge this June to raise funds for 6PIC’s operating costs (think: power, water, Internet + the amazing people that keep it running seamlessly every day).
It’s easy: be one of 100 people to give $100* to Storefront, so we can keep the 6PIC goodness flowing for years to come.
www.6picrva.org/donate/
*Any amount is much appreciated—we just like round numbers.
6PIC Spring!
The Six Points Innovation Center's Spring programming has begun. Programming this semester includes Empowerment Hour, Green Team with GroundworkRVA, Lyrics and Beats, ArtStories, Multimedia Street Art, Blackademic in Residence, Design classes, Jobs for Life classes, and Higher Education Preparation and Assistance classes. There will also be various workshops and topics classes for teens in Highland Park who want to engage in arts, environment, advocacy, education & history. Six Points is also proud to launch the program, City Builders, which empowers youth to activism and understanding racism in city policy.
Learn more about 6PIC here and check out the spring calendar here.
