Meaning, joy, and beauty are at the heart of safe communities. Take a look at some recent design projects we've supported to reinvent public spaces, build community, and encourage hope and healing through self-expression.
Meaning, joy, and beauty are at the heart of safe communities. Our teams across the five boroughs incorporate the power of design into their work, supporting resident-led initiatives to reimagine neglected public spaces and turn them into hubs for community and togetherness. We also bring art somewhere its ability to heal and transform is most needed: the legal system.
At our Brownsville Community Justice Center, a group of 15 young people worked with local artists for a multi-week program on drawing and oil painting. The program, supported by Blue Sea Development, was created to address the lack of opportunities and resources for artists in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
The young artists' hard work culminated in an "arts walk" through the neighborhood, an outdoor showcase where participants put their finished work on display for all to see and celebrate.
At our Midtown Community Justice Center, we partnered with Artistic Noise to offer a unique creative experience for people navigating the criminal justice system as an alternative to the traditional process. Participants had a chance to express themselves and reflect on their lives and world by creating original art pieces in the form of postcards. Using a medium that combines verbal and visual modes of communication, they were asked to consider: "What is your message to the world, to yourself, and to those you care about?"
The result was a range of pieces as varied and unique as the artists who created them, giving expression to complicated experiences of frustration and hope, harm and healing. The program uses the therapeutic powers of art and creativity to help people process the complex challenges that both lead to and result from contact with the justice system, while sparking reflection on a better future.
Our Neighborhood Safety Initiatives team, which partners with public housing residents across the five boroughs to strengthen safety and well-being in their communities, helped organize an initiative to transform an empty courtyard into a colorful, neuroinclusive "playscape" in Harlem.
Designed by residents of the Polo Grounds Towers in partnership with the Urban Conga, the playscape uses multisensory design with an array of colors, textures, and sounds to create a play environment that recognizes and caters to neurodiversity among children. Read more about the project in Harlem World Magazine.
At the Patterson Houses in the Bronx, we organized a participatory budgeting process where residents voted on where they would like to see a new investment in their community. The result was a resident-led initiative to enhance a local garden with the addition of colorful "Serenity Tables" in partnership with the Urban Conga.
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After.
The tables are designed to revitalize the garden as an engaging community space, bringing people of all ages together for games, chess tournaments, and conversation.