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Attendees at an SCRD-led symposium engaged in a design strategy presentation, illustrating our research and organizational development work.
A vibrant architectural rendering of a community-centered placemaking project, showing a public park designed for gathering and connection.
A collaborative visioning workshop with a diverse group of stakeholders, a key part of SCRD's community engagement and strategic planning process.
A series of strategic diagrams illustrating systems mapping and research, a core part of SCRD's design and strategy process.
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An isometric rendering of a public space design, showing a vibrant community hub with a mural, green space, and outdoor seating as the outcome of a collaborative visioning process.
Promotional graphic for an SCRD "In Conversation" event with Jade Brown, highlighting our commitment to building a stronger community of practice.
An intergenerational creative workshop where a community member and a child collaborate on a design activity, representing our hands-on approach to storytelling.
A community bike tour in Baltimore, an example of our hands-on, collaborative approach to stakeholder engagement and public space design.
A vibrant architectural rendering of a community-centered placemaking project, showing a public park designed for gathering and connection.
A diverse group of community members collaborating in a stakeholder engagement workshop, a core part of SCRD's hands-on research and design process.
A diverse group of community partners and stakeholders engaged in a deep discussion during a strategic planning session.
A local artist in a creative space, representing the community-centered storytelling and cultural preservation at the heart of our organizational development work.
A detailed community asset map from a participatory research and analysis project, used to inform our strategic design process.
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An overhead view of a participatory research activity, where community members use dot voting to provide feedback on design concepts.
An architectural rendering illustrating a comprehensive community strategy that integrates public space design with vibrant streetscapes and green infrastructure.
Two community members share a joyful hug, representing the trust-building and strong relationships at the heart of our community-centered design process.
A project team engaged in an outdoor capacity building workshop, a key part of SCRD's hands-on approach to organizational development.
A local artist creating a vibrant piece for a public space, illustrating how our creative campaigns and storytelling bring community visions to life.
Community members actively participating in an outdoor stakeholder engagement workshop, a key part of our collaborative design process.

We are a women- and minority-owned strategy & design studio. Our work centers on people and communities: their stories, needs, and aspirations. We believe every neighborhood deserves to thrive — not just survive. By combining strategy, design, and facilitation, we partner with organizations, civic leaders, and businesses to co-create strategies that make cities healthier, joyful, and more resilient.

SCRD

Selected Work

Community engagement bike tour for the TEN Baltimore public space design project, with a group of stakeholders discussing ideas.
Architectural rendering of the North and Rutland Ave pilot project, a public space design developed through collaborative visioning, showing a new community park with a performance area and large mural.

North and Rutland Ave

Pilot Project & Prototyping, Collaborative Visioning, Public Space Design

TEN Baltimore

Public Space Design, Stakeholder Engagement, Collaborative Visioning

An artist from the Highlandtown Arts District in a creative space, representing the focus of the ha! project's participatory research and organizational development to support local creatives.
A brainstorming board from the Reimagine Avenue Market project, filled with community feedback gathered during a creative storytelling campaign to inform the public space design.
Artists viewing an exhibition for the Make Space Artist Accelerator, a program focused on capacity building and organizational development through creative campaigns and storytelling.

ha!

Organizational Development, Participatory Research & Analysis

Reimagine Avenue Market

Public Space Design, Creative Campaigns & Storytelling

Make Space Artist Accelerator

Capacity Building, Organizational Development, Creative Campaigns & Storytelling

Stakeholder engagement workshop for the West Baltimore MARC Station Greenprint, showing community members participating in a collaborative visioning session to inform the public space design.
A stakeholder engagement session at the Mount Clare Plantation, where a speaker addresses community members as part of a participatory research and analysis project to reinterpret the site's history.

Mount Clare Plantation

Stakeholder Engagement, Participatory Research & Analysis

West Baltimore MARC Station Greenprint

Public Space Design, Stakeholder Engagement, Collaborative Visioning, Public Space Design  

Credit: The Nature Conservancy

Baltimore Vision Zero

Making Baltimore's streets safer requires a creative coalition. Through a partnership with City Thread of Denver and Baltimore City DOT, SCRD is supporting the Vision Zero creative campaign—an initiative dedicated to changing the narrative around street safety.

The campaign activates a network of local talent to champion walking, biking, and public transit. Guided by a brain trust of creative leaders and brought to life by community artists, this work shares the real stories of our streets to build a culture that prioritizes safety for everyone.

A workshop session for the Baltimore Vision Zero creative campaign, bringing together a brain trust of community artists and creative leaders to develop strategies for street safety.

"SCRD brought a thoughtful and structured approach to co-design, particularly with communities that have faced long-standing disinvestment... Their role was central to ensuring the project was rooted in community priorities, implementable in practice, and aligned with broader equity goals."

The brain trust of community artists and creative leaders for the Baltimore Vision Zero campaign, a creative coalition working to improve street safety in the city.

Ongoing

Group photo of the coalition partners for The Nature Conservancy's 5 million trees initiative, a public space design project focused on community partnerships and coalition building.
A close-up of a stakeholder engagement activity for Owens Park, with dot voting on signage concepts as part of our participatory research and analysis process.
A capacity building workshop for the Nuovo Beach project, with team members and facilitators discussing organizational development strategies in an outdoor meeting.

The Nature Conservancy - 5 million trees

Public Space Design, Coalition Building & Partnerships

Owens Park

Stakeholder Engagement, Participatory Research & Analysis

Nuovo Beach

Capacity Building, Organizational Development

News

Promotional graphic for the Only Other Designers podcast, featuring a portrait of guest Kathleen Lechleiter.

Only Other Designers

A show celebrating the uniqueness of the design profession and broadening the definition of what it means to be a designer in the 21st century

Launching Soon

Attendees listen to a presentation during the Our Parks Symposium, a workshop on community-centered approaches to connecting Baltimore parks.

Our Parks Symposium

The symposium explores community-centered approaches on creating pathways, both physical and cultural, between Druid Hill Park and Carroll Park.

The official arrowhead logo of the National Park Service, a key partner in the TEN Baltimore initiative.

National Park Service

The National Park Service joins the TEN Baltimore initiative, an SCRD-led project to explore connections to cultural sites between Druid Hill Park and Carroll Park.

A GIF showing scenes from the SCRD and The Nature Conservancy urban forestry design workshop in Baltimore. The images cycle through community members and partners actively participating in the facilitation. They are seen using a design kit, collaborating on site-specific tree planting plans, and networking. This visualizes SCRD's process of community engagement and equitable placemaking in action.

The Nature Conservancy

In September, we helped bring community leaders to the table for a workshop hosted by our partners, The Nature Conservancy. This was the official launch of our on-the-ground efforts to support Baltimore's 5 Million Tree Initiative.

A Braintrust meeting for the Baltimore Vision Zero creative campaign, showing Baltimore-based artists and designers collaborating on concepts for non-vehicular transit.
SCRD team members in a design workshop with the Native American Lifeline community, reviewing architectural plans for their new health center in Mount Vernon.

Native American Lifeline

Members of the SCRD team joined the Native American Lifeline indigenous community at their future home in Mount Vernon to learn how the community envisions the design of their new health center.

A black and white photo collage of the inaugural cohort for Blackspace's Studio KIN, a national accelerator for urbanism design firms featured in Fast Company.

Fast Company: BlackSpace’s Studio KIN is accelerating young design firms.

Fast Company featured SCRD founder Courtney Morgan as part of the inaugural cohort for Blackspace's Studio KIN, a national accelerator for the next generation of urbanism design firms.

A candid, black and white photo of the SCRD team working, celebrating five years of collaborative design from their offices in Baltimore and Brooklyn.

Baltimore Vision Zero

We hosted the first in-person Braintrust meeting for the Towards Zero creative campaign at Library 19. The session convened a group of Baltimore-based artists, writers, and designers to explore concepts for encouraging non-vehicular transit.

SCRD turns 5

We turn FIVE in 2026! Join us as we share the stories of exploration, challenges and triumphs from our offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Brooklyn, New York.

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