News
Storefront for Community Design
Storefront Launches Roadmap for 3-year Plan

In May 2022, Storefront for Community Design announced a bold, new vision and a three-year strategic plan. We will firmly focus on transforming our low-cost design and planning assistance programs and expanding our design education programs to inspire community-driven design in the built environment.

This is a living, breathing plan that we will continue revisiting over the months and years ahead. Since kickstarting our plan in July, we've been building an intentional roadmap that prioritizes actions and creates measurable goals. We are excited to share it and begin collaborating with you as we continue to realize our vision.

Storefront Launches Roadmap for 3-year Plan
Community Design Archive, News, Impact Stories
Storefront for Community Design
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!

Storefront Celebrates 10th Anniversary
News
Storefront for Community Design
Storefront Welcomes New Executive Director and ...

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.

News, Programs & Projects
Storefront for Community Design
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. Read the full interview by Taylor Peterson published on Feb 7, 2020.

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

Richmond Magazine: Designs Within Reach

Community Engagement

Update: Participatory Budgeting Initiative Kicks Off this Fall

Update: Participatory Budgeting Initiative Kicks Off this Fall

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 October 2019, Richmond City Council passed a resolution calling on the city’s administration to set aside money each year for the initiative. It outlined a process for participatory budgeting in the City, but due to COVID-19, the initiative was put on hold. 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. PB can be a complicated process to understand, so we encourage you to keep reading to learn more about PB, how it is being implemented in Richmond, and ways to get involved.

10 | A Vision for the Future

[10 Years, 10 Stories of Impact series]

From the first impact story that celebrated Storefront’s founding to the last story that detailed a community driven design process, it is evident that Storefront for Community Design’s impact has been witnessed across the City of Richmond. In ten years, our programming has grown from a single design assistance program at a neighborhood level to multiple programs at a city-wide level.

In 2021, Storefront announced the selection of our new Executive Director making this an ideal moment to reflect upon the progress we’ve made and establish a vision moving forward that adapts to the changing landscape of our communities. Over the past six months, we’ve been writing a strategic plan that will be our roadmap through 2025 and we are excited to launch this spring. As we turn our attention to the next 10 years, we asked founding members of Storefront for Community Design and VCUarts mOb studio three questions to highlight past achievements and share their vision for the future of our programming.

09 | Community Driven Design Process

[10 Years, 10 Stories of Impact series]

A community driven design process aims to create a NetZero hub for the Highland Park Community through Re-Imagining Benefield.

The WHY

In early 2018, Ryan Rinn, then Executive Director of Storefront for Community Design and Nick Cooper, then Director of Citizen HKS, sat down to talk about how two organizations could come together and support a Richmond community in need. Ryan quickly guided the conversation to an under-served community north of the city of Richmond that Storefront had been invested in for years but needed a substantial project and process to continue to empower the youth and serve as a catalyst for change and hope. Re-Imagining Benefield was born.

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Reimagining the Bank of America Building: Community Visioning in Highland Park

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Reimagining the Bank of America Building: Community Visioning in Highland Park

Storefront for Community Design was contracted by Maggie Walker Community Land Trust (MWCLT) to lead a community engagement process to receive feedback and ideas from residents for the new intended use of the former Bank of America building located at 1307 E Brookland Park Blvd in Northside’s Highland Park community. The Bank of America building closed in 2017 and ownership was transferred to the Richmond Land Bank, a program of MWCLT, in the hope of finding a suitable use and tenant in the coming years.

In late 2020, Storefront developed a creative digital and physical outreach plan to frame an accessible, culturally responsive community listening approach that amplified the ideas that Northside residents have regarding the intended use of the former Bank of America Building. Data and responses were collected and presented in a final report for the MWCLT Citizen Advisory Panel to consider as they determine future use of the building.

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Storefront Celebrates 10th Anniversary

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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!

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Golden Hammer Awards 2018

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Historic Richmond + Storefront for Community Design will co-host the Golden Hammer
Awards for the second year on Thursday, November 1, 2018 at the historic Monumental Church. Call for submissions will close September 15.


Historic Richmond Executive Director Cyane Crump said, “As Richmond-area nonprofits with interests in historic preservation and neighborhood revitalization, we are delighted to co-present the awards to recognize professionals working in neighborhood revitalization, blight reduction and historic preservation in the Richmond region.” Projects completed after January 1, 2017 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 a new category Best Residential focusing on single-family projects.


“With over 45 submissions last year, we are excited to see which projects in the area will be nominated,” 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.”


We are open for submissions and the portal will close September 15, 2018 at midnight. Applications for the 2018 Golden Hammer Awards can be submitted through Historic Richmond's website.

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6PIC turns 1!

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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!

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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.  

 

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6PIC Spring!

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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.

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Golden Hammer Awards !

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Are you interested in learning more about the nominations for the Golden Hammer Awards this year? Now that the application is closed, we are taking inventory of the amazing range of projects that were nominated for the Golden Hammer Awards. Stay tuned this month as we reveal more about the event. 

If you didn't get the chance to nominate a project, please make it out to the two big events on November 2nd.

The Awards Ceremony will be held on November 2nd, 2017 at Monumental Church from 6pm to 8pm. Tickets to the event are $20 and can be purchased via email from our partners at Historic Richmond: info@historicrichmond.com/

 
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Luckily, the night doesn't end there! From 8:15-10, Storefront will be hosting a Golden Hammer Awards After Party bonanza at the Valentine Museum. A $100 ticket's proceeds go straight to Storefront for Community Design and will buy your entry to an evening at the Valentine Museum and Wickham Garden, a dj, an open bar, and a specialty cocktail designed for the event: The Golden Hammered. 

If you would like to support Storefront programming and the Golden Hammer Awards, please purchase a ticket via our Donate page and choose the $100 Golden Hammer After Party Ticket option. You can also buy a ticket over the phone (804.322.9556) or via email (hello@storefrontrichmond.org)

See you on November 2nd!

 

Golden Hammer Awards 2017

 

 

Let's take a look at the projects that have made a positive and revitalizing impact on Richmond this past year

 

 

Firstly, what are the Golden Hammer Awards?

The Golden Hammer Awards were started in 2000 with a goal of honoring excellence in neighborhood revitalization projects throughout the Greater-Richmond Area. Storefront for Community Design and Historic Richmond are partnering together to host the awards with support from the Better Housing Coalition. Read more here.

Do you know a project that is deserving of the Golden Hammer Award?

Nominate a project or apply through our application page. Projects must have been complete after January 1, 2016. Four awards will be given out and applicants will be considered for the categories: Best Restoration, Best Adaptive Reuse Project, Best New Construction, and Best Placemaking Project. 

 

 

We are enthused to present this year's awards alongside the folks at Historic Richmond. The ceremony will be held on November 2nd, 2017 at Monumental Church. Join us for our panel discussion titled The History, Development and Revitalization of Northside Streetcar Suburbs. Following the lecture, we will present the 2017 Golden Hammer Awards. This year's award has been designed and produced by students from the mOb Studio.

If you have further questions about the application process, the event, project eligibility, or sponsorship, email goldenhammer@storefrontrichmond.org.

 

 

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Note: to sign up to volunteer, follow this link to complete the form.