Community Planning (Newton Grove, North Carolina)

In the last ten years, Sampson County, NC, has witnessed a 1,000% increase in its Latino population. The farmworker population accounts for most of this growth as over 90% of the farmworker population is immigrant from Mexico and other Central American countries. With 6,213 farmworkers, not including dependents, Sampson County is home to one of the largest migrant and seasonal farmworker populations in the state.

Despite this remarkable increase in number, farmworkers live isolated from the rest of the society; their poor working and living conditions go unnoticed. Farmworkers have the lowest annual income of all wage earners in the United States, and, because of their immigration status, they are excluded from federal and state work protections and many do not qualify for public benefits or food stamps. Indicators of poverty include poor access to health care and preventive care (including nutrition), substandard housing, low educational performance, and repeated demonstrated need for food, clothing and other charity. With few rights and very low income, farmworkers are a vulnerable population with little power to secure basic necessities.

Our goal is to develop a stable farmworker community around an emerging concentration of farmwoker services near the city of Newton Grove. (The Episcopal Farmworker Ministry is located here, as well as a Community Health Center, a Migrant Head Start preschool, and a Bilingual/Bicultural Substance Abuse Treatment Facility.) The overall design includes farmworker emergency housing, low-income housing, a bilingual school, a church and Hispanic liturgical institute, and a farmworker-operated community garden and flea market. In 2005, in partnership with a coalition of farmworker service and advocacy organizations, we have started the design of the community garden, flea market, and church building for “La Sagrada Familia” Episcopal Mission

Job Training Center (Marion, Alabama)

Perry County has the highest level of poverty in the state of Alabama, for both the general population (36%) and the under-18 age population (45%) based on U.S. Census data. The city of Marion is concerned with making progress in all areas of human relationships--economic, social, civic, and cultural. The community understands that through education all of these points can be enhanced.

In response, the city proposed that a combination daycare center and job-training center would give Marion the needed resources to continue education for all members of the community. Presently the county does not have a childcare center or any type of vocational training center. As the industrial revolution left this region of the Deep South behind, the “digital divide” threatens to leave Perry County behind once again. The job-training center will allow the community to stay abreast of technological progress. All of the training can be done via the computer and through the vast amount of resources that come with being connected to a larger web system.

The opportunities and educational possibilities will be enormous for this community. Coupled with a much-needed daycare center, many of the residents cannot only benefit from the educational purposes of this center, but also feel confident that their children are starting their education in a safe, accessible, and affordable environment. The project is designed to generate jobs through childcare and job training for the Perry County community. Upon completion, the facility will offer quality childcare for working parents and opportunities to improve work skills. Eighteen new job hires will be created within the first year of operation.

Thus far, this project has been awarded two significant grants to help construct the new Center. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded a $40,000 grant and The Rural Housing & Economic Development (RHED) program from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently awarded $400,000 to help build this facility. Twelve partners in the project have committed $220,000/year for the day-to-day operation of the center. And a self-help housing program is under funding steps to be housed in the job training side to train families while they build their own homes.

Self-Help Housing (Marion, Alabama)

Perry County’s percentage of people living in “extremely overcrowded” conditions is three times that of the state average. Numbers for households lacking complete plumbing and kitchen facilities and phone service are, more often than not, at least three times higher than the state average.

The percentage of mobile home units in Perry County is 4.25 times the national average. No one wants to live in them, but people often have no alternative. It is a route that will leave them in twenty years with a pile of debt and house with little to no monetary value.

Renters occupy almost half of the housing units in Perry County. The median rent of $341 could easily translate into a house payment. We have attracted a number of applicants, currently renting, who would like to take advantage of this opportunity to build a home. A second group expressing interest in Self-Help are those living in dilapidated houses or trailers, often by way of inheritance. Sowing Seeds staff members have witnessed countless homes that are beyond repair, still occupied because the owners have no other options.

Applicants express a genuine enthusiasm to take on the tasks necessary for homeownership, from making sacrifices to clean up credit, to giving up their free time for months to do construction work. It makes sense. 41% of the households in Perry County earn between $10,000 and $34,999, the exact income range suitable for Self-Help. These are a working poor that have had few tools to change the unfortunate situation of housing options in this county. Self-Help Housing as a viable opportunity for someone looking to own a home in Perry County is an entirely new thing, one with high potential to make real change in this area.

The deep commitment of a solid core of Perry County natives to their home, despite the presence of widespread poverty, is evident. Outsiders may see only the sign in the dollar store window that says it accepts food stamps, the rusting cotton gins and the rows of decrepit house trailers. The people who are from here see long Sunday afternoons of preaching and soul food, the unspoken yet well-respected rules of courtesy, and the web of families that connects each of those homes. This is a community that deserves the opportunity to create a quality of life that equals their quality of spirit.

The built solution has been to start in the area a federal housing program called "Self-help Housing," which is just as it sounds; families helping each other build their own housing. In this case, they will have the opportunity to sit down across from a Design Corps Fellow and individually design their house. While their funds may be limited, Design Corps believes that these families have the same right to allocate resources as wealthier families. In fact, allocation of limited resources is a more important exercise than when resources and not as limited. Allocating space in the most precise way to meet the needs of the families occurs during a five meeting process that is explained to the families in the beginning. Other design issues such as energy conservation and monthly bills have a great impact on low-income families.

Summer Design/Build Studio (Asheville, North Carolina)

In the summer of 2005 a new design/build program began in Western North Carolina that focuses the talents and energy of architecture students on community service.  This first studio of eight students took place during eight weeks in June and July of 2005.  The built bus stop shelter is one reason Shiloh residents can now say that “design is able to meet the needs and hopes of communities...”

Student comments:

• …building what I had designed was a huge reality check, as was working with the Shiloh community.”
• I cannot think of a better way to encounter all of the challenges and assets of working in groups, materials, construction costs, labor intensive details, communicating and involving client or community and the perception people have of architect…
• I have a hard time expressing the amount I have learned this summer, it’s been absolutely incredible.  Every summer you do this program you are teaching another group of students who will never look at architecture the same again.  In addition, you are touching communities in a positive way who will never look at architecture the same again.

The need for bus shelters was established through a community visioning process coordinated by Neighborhood Housing Services, a local non-profit organization.  The involvement of a community task force, the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, the City of Asheville Department of Transit, Asheville-Buncombe Technical College, and other groups was crucial to the success of the project.

Seaboard ROAD Crew (Seaboard, North Carolina)

Seaboard is a small rural town in the impoverished northeastern region of North Carolina. In the spring of 2003, a graduate architecture studio from NC State assisted the residents with long-range planning. Design Corps and four of the students are committed to continuing the architectural development of four key community goals. As well as providing an underserved population with access to the design arts, this project will enhance their downtown infrastructure, stimulate economic development and strengthen the community.

In 2005, Design Corps was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant of $35,000 to produce four architectural designs that will satisfy four of Seaboard’s top goals: an Open Air Market, a Town Hall Expansion, a Gateway Community Park and a Rural Center. These four projects aim to enhance the downtown infrastructure, stimulate economic development and strengthen the community of Seaboard. In addition, they will provide an underserved population with access to the design arts and emphasize the potential for the arts to benefit a struggling town.

Within the community, the young people at Seaboard Coates Elementary have already participated in the design process by building a town model and drawing their visions for their town. This interaction with the children will surely continue as these projects proceed. Committees of Seaboard residents will advise on all four projects, keeping citizens actively involved in the design process. Finally, it is likely that some or all of these architectural ventures will be to some extent community built. This hands-on experience with architecture will be another opportunity for the people of Seaboard to have access to the arts.