Protect the memory.
Prototype the future.

The story of New Hope

A neighborhood at a threshold.

New Hope is a historically Black neighborhood in a midsized Southern city. For more than a century, churches, family-owned businesses, neighborhood schools, civic organizations, musicians, storytellers, and elders have sustained a history of struggle and resilience.

Over the last twenty years, gentrification and rising housing costs have displaced long-time residents. Historic gathering places have closed, including a Black-owned restaurant where community leaders once met to talk, plan, and strategize. Black authors have been banned from local public schools, their books have disappeared from library shelves, and cultural organizations have been defunded.

Several churches have aging congregations and struggle to engage younger adults. Many young people know little about the stories, rituals, music, foodways, and leaders that shaped previous generations. Community members are also confronting a broader climate in which Black history is contested, omitted, or reduced to simplified narratives.

A city innovation grant will support one community-designed initiative. The invitation is not merely to preserve the past, but to imagine a future rooted in history. Your design team will work alongside residents—not solve the problem for them, but co-create possibilities with them.