Community Futures Lab

Community Futures Lab Community gallery, resource and zine library, workshop space, recording booth, and time capsule reco

“Community Futurisms: Time & Memory in North Philly” is a social practice, collaborative art, and ethnographic research project exploring oral histories, memories, alternative temporalities, and futures within the North Philadelphia neighborhood known as Sharswood/Blumberg. The area is currently undergoing a major redevelopment project after years of deep poverty, educational inequality, and high

crime. “Community Futurisms” will document the redevelopment of Sharswood/Blumberg, through an multidisciplinary community art project that explores the intersections of futurism, literature, visual remixing, sound, and activism as art. The goal of the Community Futures Lab is to collect, preserve, and share the Sharswood-Blumberg community’s memories and stories for future generations. We are looking for anyone who has ever lived in the neighborhood, and people who still live in the neighborhood and surrounding areas. A project of The AfroFuturist Affair/Black Quantum Futurism Collective, supported in large part by A Blade of Grass
http://www.abladeofgrass.org/fellow/black-quantum-futurism/
BQF Collective is inspired by afrofuturism, quantum physics, and african traditions of spatial-temporal consciousness. They weave science fiction realities with african concepts of time, ritual and sound to present innovative works that offer practical ways to escape time loops, oppression vortexes and the digital matrix. This project is not affiliated with the Philadelphia Housing Authority or the City of Philadelphia

For more info, please contact:
[email protected]

“The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell.” – Zora Neale HurstonPolicyLink invites y...
05/27/2025

“The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell.” – Zora Neale Hurston

PolicyLink invites you to a timely conversation on the legacy and leadership of historic Black towns and settlements.

This webinar will explore descendant-led strategies to protect, preserve, and restore these cultural and historical spaces—laying the groundwork for justice and repair.

June 10, 2025
9:30–11:00 AM PT | 12:30–2:00 PM ET
Zoom Webinar - Register at the link in bio

Featured speakers include:
Dr. Andrea Roberts, University of Virginia
Taiwan Scott, Hilton Head activist and community organizer
Dr. Julian Chambliss, Michigan State University

Read Repairing Roots at spatialfutures.org before the event and join us in the movement for reparative spatial justice in land and housing.

https://policylink.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K89V0Md1SAGy9NUGw0J6hA #/registration

During , we call on our partners and networks to consider how we can contribute to designing and implementing housing m...
04/30/2025

During , we call on our partners and networks to consider how we can contribute to designing and implementing housing models that allows everyone to dream about and pursue bold futures. Check out some key concepts and terms that can help us dream, vision, explore, play, and create new together.

These efforts are all part of a shared movement for , whereby historically marginalized communities are reclaiming their connection to land and gaining restitution for the long-standing impacts of racist policies and practices.

Displacing Black Time and Space in PhiladelphiaTop-down urban planning and redevelopment doesn’t just disrupt maps and e...
02/17/2025

Displacing Black Time and Space in Philadelphia
Top-down urban planning and redevelopment doesn’t just disrupt maps and economies. Remaking Black communities like North Philly’s Sharswood also displaces residents’ very sense of time, Rasheedah Phillips writes in their new book via

is available via and wherever you like to buy books.

As part of the Spatial Futures Initiative at , amplifies the call to protect, preserve, and restore historic Black tow...
12/13/2024

As part of the Spatial Futures Initiative at , amplifies the call to protect, preserve, and restore historic Black towns and settlements across the U.S. These places are pillars of America’s cultural and historic fabric, yet face systemic threats of displacement, gentrification, and neglect. Learn how communities are reclaiming their spaces and safeguarding their legacy.

Our newest publication, Repairing Roots, is more than a tribute to historic Black towns; it’s a call to action for reparative spatial justice. By exposing systemic harms like displacement and exploitation, this work lays a foundation for healing, repair, and the creation of vibrant, inclusive communities where justice and belonging are at the center.

What enables historic Black towns like Eatonville, FL, and Hilton Head Island, SC, to withstand systemic threats and preserve their spaces for the future? Repairing Roots explores the ingenuity and collective determination of these communities as they reclaim their heritage and protect their land against displacement and erasure. https://spatialfutures.org/resources/repairing-roots LINK IN BIO



Alt text:
Text on the side reads REPAIRING ROOTS: Historic Black Towns and Spatial Reclamation. Tina Grandinetti, Jasmine Rangel, Rasheedah Phillips. At the bottom there are Spatial Futures and PolicyLink logos. On the right, there is an image of a Black woman with an updo sitting on a stylized image of a tree stump with visible roots. She’s reaching for a stylized moon with what appears to be a map in it.

“We cannot truly achieve equity without repair”: A look at a movement for housing justiceA Black- and Indigenous-led pus...
10/17/2024

“We cannot truly achieve equity without repair”: A look at a movement for housing justice
A Black- and Indigenous-led push for spatial reparations reckons with the past to build a future where everyone can feel at home
by AND Tina Grandinetti for

Calling all housing and land justice advocates! It’s time to reshape the landscape with a reparative spatial justice app...
09/18/2024

Calling all housing and land justice advocates! It’s time to reshape the landscape with a reparative spatial justice approach. Apply for the Spatial Futures Fellowship at by October 18 at 5pm PST and Join our webinar on October 2nd at 12:30PST for more info webinar: https://plcylk.org/sff-II-webinar
Application: https://plcylk.org/sff-II-app
New resource and website with more info about the fellowship and where reparative spatial justice is happening around the country!: www.spatialfutures.org

Join us on April 30 for “Radical Homecoming: Reclaiming Spaces, Identities, and Futures,” a gathering at the nexus of Af...
04/10/2024

Join us on April 30 for “Radical Homecoming: Reclaiming Spaces, Identities, and Futures,” a gathering at the nexus of Afrofuturism, Indigenous futurisms, and the pursuit of environmental, economic, and spatial justice. This event brings together artists, cultural workers, and scholars to discuss and dream up the futures of housing, land reclamation, and the principles of radical homecoming — envisioning a world where the relationship to land, community, and space honors every individual’s right to a stable, healthy home beyond the constraints of zip codes.

Dedicated to unraveling the threads of oppression and displacement through the lenses of Afrofuturism and Indigenous futurisms, our gathering seeks to craft a future that reclaims ancestral wisdom and narratives of liberation. With contributions from artists, poets, cultural workers, and scholars Edyka Chilomé, Grace Dillon, Ingrid LaFleur, Tonika Lewis Johnson, and Tanaya Winder, we will engage in presentations, discussions, and artistic performances that not only imagine but insist on the creation of abundant, safe, and healthy futures for all. This event is a call to collective action and imagination, inviting us to redefine the essence of community and belonging through the radical act of coming home—to ourselves, our communities, and the land that sustains us.

Featured Speakers:

Edyka Chilomé, poet
Grace Dillon, professor in the Indigenous Nations Studies Program, in the School of Gender, Race, and Nations, at Portland State University
Ingrid LaFleur, curator, design innovationist, pleasure activist, and Afrofuturist
Tonika Lewis Johnson, social justice artist
Tanaya Winder, poet
REGISTER TODAY! - https://policylink.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LhrFReOSR3e5GpdRhx0PWw #/registration

Register now for an upcoming town hall next month to discuss efforts to discuss the human right to housing in California...
03/26/2024

Register now for an upcoming town hall next month to discuss efforts to discuss the human right to housing in California. Learn more about what a right to housing means, why it matters, and how international human rights principles apply to our work to advance housing justice in California.

Who: Speakers include Former United Nations Rapporteur Leilani Farha, California Assemblymember Matt Haney, ’s Director of Housing Futures and Land Justice Rasheedah Phillips, and Professor Farah Hassan. Event co-hosts include UCLA’s Promise Institute for Human Rights, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Housing Now!, ACLU California Action, PolicyLink, National Homelessness Law Center, Power California Action, and Western Center On Law & Poverty.

Panelists will explore how international human rights principles can inform our housing justice work in California, how a human rights framework applies to housing policy at the state and local levels, as well as the status of the campaign to pass ACA 10 — a bill to enshrine the human right to housing in the state constitution.

We envision a world where success in one community sparks inspiration and ignites change in others, creating a ripple ef...
03/18/2024

We envision a world where success in one community sparks inspiration and ignites change in others, creating a ripple effect of reparative spatial justice.

Our new report, “Grounding Justice: Toward Reparative Spatial Futures in Land and Housing” marks the launch of ’s Spatial Futures Initiative, which aims to be a potent catalyst and a visionary policy hub for this movement.

Join us in reimagining spaces for equity and justice –– report link in our bio.

Acts of exclusion, dispossession, and erasure have limited physical space and intergenerational possibilities for Black,...
03/18/2024

Acts of exclusion, dispossession, and erasure have limited physical space and intergenerational possibilities for Black, Brown, and Indigenous families who have been denied an opportunity to dream and plan for their futures.

Join us in reimagining spaces for equity and justice. Reparative Spatial Justice is more than a concept; it’s a movement. See how it’s transforming the system in land and housing. Transforming spaces to repair past harms.

Learn how Reparative Spatial Justice is creating a new paradigm in land and housing. https://plcylk.org/grounding-justice

Join us as we introduce and celebrate four digital AR monuments lifting the city’s history, communityleaders, and agents...
10/27/2023

Join us as we introduce and celebrate four digital AR monuments lifting the city’s history, community
leaders, and agents of change in four neighborhoods as part of Kinfolk’s National Tour!
¡Únase a nosotros para la introduccion y presentacion de cuatro monumentos dedicados a la historia de la ciudad y a los líderes comunitarios y agentes de cambio de cuatro vecindarios como parte de la Gira
Nacional de Kinfolk!
Saturday, October 28, 2023
2pm-6pm
Philadelphia City Hall Courtyards
Food, performances, open mic, swag, and art making
Introducing new digital monuments by Betty Leacraft (West Philadelphia), Black
Quantum Futurism (North Philadelphia) Colette Fu
(Chinatown) tpand Betsy Casañas (Norris Square)
Selection Committee

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2204 Ridge Avenue
Philadelphia, PA
19121

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