Grants Program

The Design Interventions Grant

2025 Grant Awardees:

Housing for Affordability, Relationships, Belonging, Opportunity, and Resilience (HARBOR) 1: Designing for Young People in Transition
Clemson University
Lyndsey Deaton, Assistant Professor
Brief summary: In South Carolina and the Southeast, young people exiting foster care, group homes, or homelessness face housing instability as they begin adult routines. HARBOR 1 pairs affordable housing with training services, creating a research-based framework, design models, POE toolkit, and partner pathway for a prototype.
In their own words: “Youth in transition are the ultimate beneficiaries. By aligning housing with embedded training and daily routines, HARBOR 1 lays the groundwork for environments that lower friction, reduce crises, and support persistence in school and work. At scale, improved job retention and reduced service churn yield regional gains: greater labor-force participation, lower downstream public expenditures, and stronger local networks of care.”

Building Affordable Housing Where it is Needed: Infill Housing Choices to Support Economic Mobility
NC State University
Adam Walters, Associate Director of the Pappas Real Estate Development Program
Brief summary: This project addresses North Carolina’s housing crisis by focusing on urban infill housing as a solution for promoting economic mobility. The team aims to develop and disseminate scalable and replicable models for building more housing in high-demand, transit-rich areas.
In their own words: “Urban infill housing can address numerous persistent problems, including historical racial and economic segregation, unequal access to high quality schools, parks, food, services, and other components that affect health, well-being, and economic mobility.”

Open-Source Affordable Housing Design Library for Charlottesville: Expanding Equity, Wellness, and Economic Mobility
University of Virginia
Schaeffer Somers, Assistant Professor, Architecture
Brief summary: Charlottesville’s historically underserved neighborhoods face persistent barriers to affordable housing, homeownership, and climate resilience. Building on the City’s Development Code, this project seeks to address a critical gap in economic mobility by piloting an open-source housing design library developed through community-engaged processes.
In their own words: “This initiative positions public interest design—socially conscious, environmentally sustainable, and economically accessible work—as a transformative framework for student learning at UVA and in the context of the research lab… Communities benefit from participatory design, trust building, and development of open-source housing designs available to developers of affordable housing.”

2024 Grant Awardees:

Sustainable & Supportive Housing for Salutogenic Health: Regenerative Residential Design as a Catalyst for Community Well-Being
University of Florida
Lisa Sundahl Platt, University of Florida Board of Trustees; Division of Sponsored Programs
Brief summary: The project aims to understand how regenerative housing design strategies influence individual and public health resilience through community-based participatory research.
In their own words: “Ultimately, this research aspires to contribute meaningful insights to sustainable design, supportive housing construction, and public health, offering practical solutions that planners and policymakers can implement to improve the quality of life in marginalized communities and promote overall population health goals.” – Lisa Sundahl Platt

NCCU Eyrie Initiative
North Carolina Central University
Scott Singeisen, Associate Professor of Architecture, Department of Art & Design
Brief summary: This project aims to enhance NCCU’s architecture program by establishing a vibrant community design center that promotes diversity and fosters positive change for education and the community.
In their own words: “The design center will facilitate research projects that investigate the intersection of architecture, social equity, and health. With a focus on research and innovation, these projects will generate valuable insights and evidence-based strategies for creating more.” – Scott Singeisen

2023 Grant Awardees:

Addressing Climate Change and Tourism on Southeastern Barrier Islands
Clemson University
Andreea Mihalache, Co-Director of Architecture Graduate Programs; Associate Professor of Architecture
Brief summary: This project aims to educate the public in vulnerable communities about the effects of sea level rise and provide strategies for practical solutions.
In their own words: “Our direct beneficiaries are members of local communities on 3 barrier islands in South Carolina and Georgia, who are the ones suffering the immediate environmental, economic, and social consequences of decades of careless tourism. Our indirect beneficiaries are future generations of responsible travelers and the communities of this coastal region as a whole.”

Retreat, Adapt, Defend: Blueprints for Successful Communities
Georgia Conservancy/Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture
Katherine Moore, Georgia Conservancy President
Brief summary: This project aims to advance equity and mitigate climate change by building the capacity of local initiatives to protect coastal BIPOC communities’ most treasured natural and cultural resources by improving the built environment.
In their own words: “Our approach empowers communities by illustrating how their urban form, framework, and historic design practices have shaped the built environment in which they live and the future threats to their livelihoods, specifically sea level rise and future marsh migration.”

School Design and Operations as Disaster Planning and Mitigation: An Interdisciplinary, Community-Based Approach for Resiliency in the Southeast United States
NC State University
Traci Rose Rider, Associate Professor of Architecture, Director of Graduate Program in Architecture
Brief summary: This project aims to position schools as intentional resources in community resiliency in the Southeast United States.
In their own words: “Focusing on case studies of communities that have seen or are preparing for severe natural disasters, and understanding needs of Southeastern communities likely to experience these events, this research provides critical information about the planning, design, operation, and evaluation of schools to actively participate in hazard planning and mitigation.”