To help envision this large area, the Agency has identified Salazar Architect, Inc. to oversee the community-led visioning of the larger area. Salazar Architect creates public interest designs rich in character and affordable to build. Salazar Architect’s mission-driven approach integrates community and sustainable design methods with a deep understanding of how materials, forms, and systems affect the well-being of communities. Following the Almeda Fire, much of this area within the map above was demolished, and the Agency believes that having an experienced, long-range architecture firm to help solicit the community vision of the area within community-led engagement activities will pave the way to the revitalization of the area for years to come. Salazar Architect has a rich history of community engagement. According to their website, “While Salazar Architect designs a lot of housing, we are not a housing firm. It’s our vehicle to engage with community-based organizations who are focused on empowering their members. Our pro-bono and ‘low-bono’ work with these grassroots groups helped launch the firm in 2007 and today we regularly donate hundreds of hours to non-profits as part of the One+ architecture program. We also collaborate with university sponsored programs that help educate the next generation of public interest designers. In 2019 Salazar Architect donated 900 hours, equivalent to over 4% of the firm’s time for the year.” The firm also has a rich history of public engagement workshops across the West coast. The visioning sessions held by their team will be both in English and Spanish.

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Salazar Architect has partnered with Place It! to help lead the interactive, hands-on workshops in Talent. You can learn more about Place It! previous projects and methods at the following links https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN8OtGC50Qk and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgbTDJXsqIo. You can also visit their website online at https://www.placeit.org/