Vision 2025 is a Meaningful strategic plan that serves as our roadmap through 2025. THIS IS A LIVING, BREATHING PLAN THAT WE WILL CONTINUE REVISITING OVER THE MONTHS AND YEARS AHEAD. WE ARE EXCITED TO COLLABORATe WITH YOU AS WE WORK TO REALIZE OUR VISION.
Our Purpose
Many Richmond residents do not have the opportunity to participate in city planning, nor understand the complex forces shaping the designs. Storefront for Community Design is a non-profit design center in Richmond, Virginia, founded to bridge the gap and make design programs and resources accessible to all for the love of our city. Historical inequities are built into the physical environment in ways that are both obvious and hidden. We at Storefront remain committed to increasing city-wide resources while engaging the next generation of designers by equipping youth for career success, civic engagement, and creative expression.
Since 2011, Storefront for Community Design has convened over 370 low-cost design and planning assistance projects and over 20 design education initiatives to community members, businesses, non-profit organizations, local governments, and neighborhoods, with an estimated value of donated services well over $1,080,000.
Our city-wide plan prioritizes equitable and sustainable growth over the next 20 years. Richmond is growing rapidly, and our work is now more important than ever. Storefront understands the need to leverage creativity within our communities facing changes to their built environments. New methods are necessary to build design capacity and amplify community voice. Over the next three years, we will continue providing low-cost design and planning assistance programs and design education programs to adapt to the changing landscape of our communities.
Our Vision: Vision 2025
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.
By 2025, these city-wide initiatives have the power to serve over 200,000 people in the greater Richmond area and to foster community design. We will collaborate with 1,940 community partners and 350 volunteers to convene 90 projects to strengthen relationships and facilitate new connections. We will aid community partners in ideas advancing areas of environmental and food justice, health and wellness, economic development, placemaking/placekeeping and design/planning tools to empower community organizing.
Our Priorities
To make that happen, we’re organizing everything that we do over the next three years around these three priorities:
Inspire Community Members through Enhanced Programming
Strategies:
Align projects and programs to our mission and focus areas to create intentional collaboration among Storefront, the board, VCUarts mOb studio, and community partners.
Enhance Design Education programming to introduce community members to built environment design and equip youth and young adults for career success, civic engagement, and creative expression.
Transform Low-cost Design and Planning Assistance programs to build capacity for community-driven design and provide resources for design/build projects.
Strengthen Storefront’s Impact through Long-term Organizational Sustainability and Visibility
Strategies:
Advance an equity-based staffing plan (including the continued maturation of the board) outlining roles, compensation, benefits, and staffing needs to support the current and future needs of the organization.
Increase and diversify funding sources to grow community impact and organizational financial stability.
Transform our Broad Street office into a community hub with access to design resources and intergenerational programming.
Deepen Relationships and Partnerships
Strategies:
Increase greater presence in Southside and East End neighborhoods, continuing to focus on underserved communities.
Create a clear path and process for design professionals and community members to volunteer across Storefront programming.
Cultivate partnerships with design firms, local universities, and regional design centers to build best practices and augment our work.
Illustrations by Jorge Teixeira Marques, LEM Studio
Our Roadmap
The Road Ahead
To realize our vision, we’ve prioritized our strategies and actions to reach key metrics annually.
Roadmap Illustrations by Meg Studer, Siteations