The opportunity
After a government initiative called redevelopment, the African American population in San Francisco fell from 13% in the 1970’s to <3% today. Our partner, the African American Arts & Culture Complex (AAACC), holds more Black art companies than any other institution in the Bay Area and is a magnet for community events and artist expression. Together we explored how might we increase community resilience in the neighborhood.
The outcome
We ran an eight-week design fellows program for local youth, which resulted in the concept for a community parklet. We received $46,000 from two grants for youth stipends, community events, prototyping, and construction / build / maintenance. Support for the initiative (a parklet) from community members was rated 4.5/5 (n=50).
