Reimagining a Family Program Around Black Child Development

A proposed redesign of an established national family program, grounded in the Eight Essential Outcomes for Black Child Development and an Afrofuturist method for identifying and replacing the narratives that constrain what is possible for Black children and families.

At a Glance

Client: National Non-Profit

Sector: Family Leadership

Format: Program and curriculum redesign

Audience: Parent Leaders

What we noticed

NBCDI had articulated a vision of Black children born healthy, affirmed in their identities, protected from harm, and connected to thriving communities. That vision was anchored in the Eight Essential Outcomes for Black Child Development.

The organization also had a trusted point of connection with families through the Family Empowerment Program and the wider National Village Network.

What was needed was a clearer bridge between the two: a program design that translated the organization’s vision and outcomes into the structure of the family experience.

The intervention

We proposed a full redesign of the Family Empowerment Program, organized around the Eight Essential Outcomes and informed by Afrofuturism as both a lens and a method.

As a lens, Afrofuturism offered a way to imagine a fuller future for Black children and families. As a method, it created a disciplined process for identifying the mental models, narratives, and systems that have historically limited that future and for replacing them with structures that support it.

The redesign mapped how each part of the program experience would connect to the outcomes it was intended to advance.

Why we designed it this way

We treated Afrofuturism as a working method rather than an aesthetic. A program grounded in Black child development must do more than add affirming content. It must examine the assumptions embedded in how programs are usually designed and determine whether those assumptions support the future the organization is trying to create.

We also designed from the program’s existing relationship with families rather than starting over. Trust is difficult to build and easy to lose, and the Family Empowerment Program already had a trusted place within the community.

Questions for Consideration

When a program is redesigned around the development of a particular community, what distinguishes changing its content from changing the assumptions embedded in its structure?

How can an organization redesign a trusted program without disrupting the trust that made the program valuable?

What does it mean to treat imagining a different future as a design discipline rather than only an aspiration?

SELECTED ARTIFACTS