April 3, 2011
Architects Help Nonprofits Build Their Missions
Seth Welty
The Carrollton-Hollygrove Community Development Corporation, in New Orleans, was created to help residents rebuild their home after Hurricane Katrina. Later, the nonprofit began to focus on the availability of fresh produce in the low-income neighborhood. Cordula Roser Gray, a local architect, worked with the group to develop a plan for training farm and farmers' market on a one-acre plot with an existing building. Demonstration gardens along the street help draw local residents into the twice-weekly farmers' market and the group's gardening and cooking work-shops.
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Seth Welty
The Carrollton-Hollygrove Community Development Corporation, in New Orleans, was created to help residents rebuild their home after Hurricane Katrina. Later, the nonprofit began to focus on the availability of fresh produce in the low-income neighborhood. Cordula Roser Gray, a local architect, worked with the group to develop a plan for training farm and farmers' market on a one-acre plot with an existing building. Demonstration gardens along the street help draw local residents into the twice-weekly farmers' market and the group's gardening and cooking work-shops.
For many nonprofit organizations the word “architecture” conjures up images of futuristic buildings and gleaming, lacquered interiors.
A new book, The Power of Pro Bono, seeks to dispel charities’ misconceptions about design and show that it can be an important tool to help them advance their missions.
“There is a mentality in the nonprofit sector that we need to look needy, that we need to not be flashy,” says John Cary, editor of the
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