A local focus on Charlottesville:
New Vinegar Hill

In the summer of 2017, Charlottesville was in for a wake up call as white supremacists held a rally that resulted in the death of a young woman. In partnership with members of city council and community leaders and supported by design thinking faculty from the architecture school, social entrepreneurship students engaged the community in forming a new vision for our town.

The destruction of the vibrant African-American community of Vinegar Hill, the University's participation in the massive resistance to the racial desegregation of the city's public schools and the University's long history as a place of white male privilege have all contributed to the well-known chasm between the University and black community in the city.

The lab

We are drawing on the expertise, research, and resources of the University of proactively support the building of a strong and growing black middle and upper class through a robust African-American community led redevelopment initiative including affordable housing, entrepreneurship, and career pathways.