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.
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 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.
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
Ezibu Muntu African Dance & Cultural Foundation is a professional organization of dancers, drummers, and entertainers dedicated to invoking a better educated positive understanding of African culture, values, traditions, and the cultural arts. As Ezibu Muntu develops a capital campaign for their aging building in the heart of the Arts & Cultural District, they seek assistance in prioritizing improvements, which range from repairing leaks, to expanding their studio space, to improving their façade. Contact Storefront to help maintain Ezibu Muntu as a safe haven for creative expression for developing children and aspiring artists.
Storefront's Design Session program engages professional and emerging designers to provide conceptual assistance on community-initiated projects. Through a partnership with VCUarts, Storefront offers a unique track of design assistance that engages a lively hive of 30 students representing the fashion, graphic, and interior design departments.
You are invited to attend an open meeting for designers interested in discussing the future of public art in Richmond. Your ideas about what Richmond is and what it can be are important! This event is being held in support of Richmond’s effort to create a comprehensive plan for public art in the city.
Storefront's volunteer landscape architects are working with VSU's Harding Street Community Garden initiative to create a variety of garden types along a corridor of vacant lots. Anchoring the block is a community center, which will be used as an educational space and processing kitchen for produce grown along Harding Street. The head of the program Duron Chavis is seeking assistance from an interior designer or architect to make the kitchen more efficient for processing vegetables.
Under the guidance of a professional mentor, VCUarts faculty, and Storefront staff, mOb will be taking on 15 community projects in student groups of 2-4. mOb mentors spend between 5-10 hours over the course of the semester providing feedback and guidance to the student team as they develop their deliverables.
Complete the form to receive email updates from Storefront for Community Design about events, programs, resources, and volunteer opportunities. You will receive an email confirmation once you have registered.
Note: to sign up to volunteer, follow this link to complete the form.
