During this, our 50th anniversary year, we’ll be sharing 50 reason to celebrate Center for Neighborhoods — one reason each week. The posts will come from different stakeholders in the organization, representing our past, present, and future.
This week’s post is written by Dr. Mellone F. Long, CFN Executive Director
This Black History Month, Center for Neighborhoods wants to acknowledge the struggle and our little part in the fight against racial injustice.
One tool that emerged to help combat systemic racism in the early 1970s was the movement of architects who created Community Design Centers. Some architects in Louisville were among that movement. The Louisville Community Design Center (known today as Center for Neighborhoods) is one of the longest-lasting Community Design Centers in the nation.
Community Design Centers were developed to respond to obstacles that deterred community development and, most importantly, redevelopment of Black neighborhoods. Redlining and urban renewal were two of the worst offenders. Redlining made it next to impossible for minorities to get financing to buy homes. It left minorities in neighborhoods that were decimated by urban renewal. (Click here for a map of Louisville redlining.)
Community Design Centers helped residents get professional design ideas and plans. This was a way to address a few of the problems faced by residents experiencing poor housing stock, which contributed to the blight in our neighborhoods.
The Association of Community Design (ACD) “envisions a practice of design that dismantles systemic injustice and creates an equitable built environment.” Through their programs, the ACD provides “resources, connections, and support for practitioners working to advance equity and justice in the built environment.”
Like the ACD, Center for Neighborhoods still strives to live up to those goals. But we are also moving forward with other ideas. We include a focus on education and engagement with our neighbors. We know this is the basis for empowerment. We work with community leaders through our programs to expand their ability to do what they want and need to be done in their communities.
Check out any of our training programs to improve your community leadership skills. Some of our most popular are the Neighborhood Institute, the Neighborhood Summit, and our Asset Based Community Development ABCD) trainings. Join us and become a warrior for your community.
Arthur Mehrhoff, author of Community Design: A Team Approach to Dynamic Community Systems, says, “I discovered that community design is not really about fashioning more handsome buildings, interesting views, or attractive landscapes. Community design is ultimately about empowering the citizens of local communities to shape their own preferred futures by acquiring and applying information and knowledge about their communities in a far more systematic, thoughtful, and democratic manner than current practice” (p 122). This speaks to what CFN has evolved to become. We are still a Community Design Center, but we are one with many more arrows in our quiver.