April 2025 | SWF Communiversity Convergence in Pittsburgh
From April 10 through April 12, members of the SWF team traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for a Communiversity Convergence with Values-Based Partner Sankofa Village Community Garden.
The convergence began with an introduction to Sankofa Village’s after-school program. The following day, Sankofa Village hosted a Volunteer Day that featured a SWF Communiversity Build-It workshop. On the final day, SWF and Sankofa Village co-hosted a public event, “[Re]Generating the Publics,” at the Carnegie Public Library of Pittsburgh in Homewood. The event engaged the SWF community, Sankofa Village community, SWF Values-Based Partners, and students/faculty from Carnegie Mellon University.
Read more about the Pittsburgh Convergence.
SWF AND SANKOFA VILLAGE VALUES-BASED PARTNERSHIP
SWF and Sankofa Village Community Garden began cultivating a values-based partnership in early 2024 and have continued to build on the momentum generated during the inaugural Communiversity Convergence in Pittsburgh in April 2024. That event engaged the Sankofa Village community, SWF team, and students/faculty from nearby colleges/universities in a garden clean-up and the construction of new furniture at Sankofa Village Community Garden, as well as a public lecture at the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). The furniture built during the Convergence – seating, tables, garden beds, and the SWF Farmstand — is in active use at Sankofa Village.
Sankofa Village, Executive Director, Vikki Ayanna Jones, who is affectionately known as Mama Ayanna, actively contributes to SWF’s monthly Values-Based Partners Connection Calls as part of the feedback loop with her work cultivating Sankofa Village, a critical regenerative neighborhood node within Homewood (Pittsburgh).
In June 2024, the Sankofa Village team and youth visited The Common|Wealth for a one-week Leadership Training Immersion for Values-Based Partners. The Sankofa Village team engaged in SWF’s daily practice of Regenerative Neighborhood Development and participated in SWF’s weekly Well-ness Wednesday and Friday Neighborhood Market events, as well as SWF’s annual Juneteenth Celebration.
In fall 2024, SWF and Sankofa Village began to plan for 2025, working to make the convergences in Pittsburgh and Chicago an annual connection and exchange. And, in Spring 2025, the SWF Communiversity RND Research program focused on Sankofa Village to translate elements of SWF’s We the Publics… and Re-Mapping the Publics… exhibits to the Homewood neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
SPRING 2025 | RND RE-SEARCH PROGRAM
SWF launched the RND Re-search Program in Fall 2021 to prepare participants for transformative, hands-on and community-rooted work by introducing them to SWF’s practice of Regenerative Neighborhood Development and its bio-dynamic campus, The Common|Wealth. Participating community practitioners, educators, and college/university students are guided by SWF Communiversity faculty in re-search and development of work products that can be used at The Common|Wealth and/or across the Values-Based Partners Network.
The Spring 2025 RND Re-search Program focused on applying re-search methodologies from SWF’s We the Publics… exhibit and translating real-life solutions from SWF’s Portfolio of Possibilities to Sankofa Village. Guided by SWF Communiversity faculty, seven interns compiled resources to better understand the Sankofa Village site. This included creating documentation showing the scale and orientation of the site, site infrastructure, historic Sanborn maps, land ownership, zoning, transportation, and growing zones, as well as compiling key information from the Homewood Comprehensive Plan. Using the format of SWF’s We the Publics… and Re-Mapping the Publics exhibits, the documentation illustrates how Sankofa Village activated five vacant lots and the second floor of a building to regenerate public trust through growing food, public programming (after-school, bike share, Food on the Fence, etc.), and cultivate intergenerational relationships.
The re-search highlighted parallels between SWF’s Community Garden on The Common|Wealth and Sankofa Village Community Garden, their similar size (five parcels), infrastructure (repurposed shipping containers, sheds, timber-frame structures, raised garden beds, solar energy, and water catchment and storage), and strategies in public programming – growing food, art, education, and cultivating an Essential Economy. Finally, the re-search explored the applicability of translating solutions from SWF to Sankofa Village, including water access, greenhouse designs, and indoor seedling cultivation on the Shelf of Life. These findings were shared publicly at Carnegie Library-Homewood through a presentation and posters during the 2025 Communiversity Convergence.
2025 COMMUNIVERSITY CONVERGENCE WITH SANKOFA VILLAGE | INTRODUCTION, BUILD-IT AND VOLUNTEER DAY
The convergence began with the SWF reuniting with Mama Ayanna and an introduction to Sankofa Village’s inaugural after-school program. Utilizing the Sankofa Village Community Garden and the building next door, the after-school program engages 12 youth, each with their own garden beds for hands-on learning and growing. Additionally, this Spring, the Sankofa Village youth have been researching low hoops to understand their design and purpose in extending the growing season. Over dinner, the SWF team and Sankofa Village youth introduced themselves.
The following day, the SWF team arrived onsite at Sankofa Village Community Garden, where the after-school students showcased their work growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers, and the SWF Team led a Communiversity Build-It workshop. The youth engaged in constructing and installing low hoops, building on the students' low hoop research. Later in the afternoon, Mama Ayanna welcomed over 50 faculty and students from Bloomsburg University who joined Sankofa Village for their annual Volunteer Day to clean up the garden and prep it for the summer growing season. Everyone appreciated the homemade meal made by Mama Ayanna’s family, while the deejay’s tunes inspired a dance-off between Bloomsburg University students.
Afterward, the SWF Team and youth completed the installation of seven low hoops. The youth reflected on the building process (for some, it was their first introduction to carpentry) and the benefits for their gardens.
2025 COMMUNIVERSITY CONVERGENCE WITH SANKOFA VILLAGE | PUBLIC TALK
On Saturday morning, SWF and Sankofa Village co-hosted a public talk on “[Re]Generating the Publics” at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in Homewood, less than a mile from the Sankofa Village Community Garden. Recognizing libraries as vital public spaces, the event aimed to connect neighbors, the Sankofa Village community, SWF Neighborhood Academy, SWF Values-Based Partners, SWF RND Research interns, and Carnegie Mellon University students and faculty. Over 30 people attended in person and virtually from various locations, including Chicago, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh, Boston, and various countries such as Colombia, India, China, Georgia, and Germany.
This historic library provided an ideal space to celebrate the regeneration of the publics – public land, public education, public health, and public water. SWF Executive Director, Emmanuel Pratt, introduced the We the Publics… manifesto as a roadmap for SWF, The Communiversity, and the re-generation of The Common|Wealth. SWF team members demonstrated how neighbors from around The Common|Wealth learn and practice SWF’s practice of Regenerative Neighborhood Development (RND) through SWF Neighborhood Academy. SWF Communiversity faculty and an RND Research Intern presented highlights from the Communiversity Spring 2025 RND Research. Wakeel Abdullah, one of the Sankofa Village founders, reflected on their impact on various publics since 2015. The event sparked a vibrant discussion, including a youth participant's insights on the Build-It workshop and attendees highlighting SWF and Sankofa Village's work as "Policy in Action," leading to new connections and future sharing.
There GROWS the neighborhood.
