Inspiration
& Empathy
Listen before proposing. Map feelings, missing stories, cultural assets, assumptions, and the voices left out.
- Final design question
- Empathy map
Doctor of MinistryFormation · Immersion · ActionFall 2026 · Africentric Human-Centered Design
Protect the memory.
Prototype the future.
The New Hope Community design scenario asks how Black cultural memory can be reclaimed, protected, and reimagined in a time of erasure.
The story of New Hope
A neighborhood at a threshold.
New Hope is a fictional, historically Black neighborhood sustained for generations by churches, family businesses, schools, civic groups, musicians, storytellers, and elders.
Gentrification, rising housing costs, closed gathering places, contested Black history, and the loss of cultural institutions now challenge its collective memory. A community innovation grant opens a space to co-create—not solve for residents, but build with them.
How might New Hope reclaim, protect, and reimagine Black cultural memory in a time of erasure?
Inspiration
Define
& Imagine
Refine the problem statement, then generate 25–30 ideas before judging feasibility.
- Opportunity statement
- Idea portfolio
Prototype
& Act
Select one intervention, make it tangible, seek feedback, and identify the next faithful step.
- Prototype
- User feedback plan
- Reflection & next steps
Learning outcomes
Participants leave able to…
01 Demonstrate knowledge of Sankofa, Sakhu, and Serudj Ta as components of an Africentric Human-Centered Design approach to prophetic problem-solving.
02 Lead a community ideation session as part of the AHCD process.
Carry the work forward
Tools, context
& acknowledgements.
Small-group facilitators
Rev. Dr. Reginaldo Braga · Rev. Dr. Adolphus Lacey · Dr. Sharon Fluker
Scenario note
New Hope is fictional, but its concerns are rooted in real communities. Participants engage as community members co-designing action, then report after the final lab.