AfroFuturism Oasis
A project by AfroVillage PDX, integrating art, culture, technology, and sustainability to create a healing, community-driven space. This initiative aims to empower Black and Brown communities through climate resilience, digital inclusion, and cultural restoration.
How did the AfroFuturism Oasis come to be
In January 2020, TriMet, the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and PSU’s Center for Public Interest Design launched the MAX Reuse Design Challenge - a design competition that invited designers to explore visions for the repurposing of retiring MAX cars to help address Portland’s critical issues including homelessness, climate change, housing insecurity, and racial inequity, while preventing these cars from ending up as waste or scrap. The winning AfroVillage’s design, which secured the People’s Choice Award, envisioned converting three retiring MAX trains to create an “AfroFuturism Oasis” – sanctuary space that integrate nature, clean energy, and Afro-design to create a healing hub for Black and Brown communities to rest, collaborate, innovate, and access pathways to economic empowerment.
How the AfroFuturism Oasis is being funded
This project is BIG. Which requires a lot of money. Like most nonprofits we rely on grants and our donors.
Partners as
collaborators
On May 16th, 2025 , we hosted a site visit with some of our partners and Metro reviewers. Sharing the AfroVillage story, our plans for the Oasis, and how this work supports community healing.
On July 17th, PLACE and KPFF did a site visit to update the design related to pedestrian access to the site, fences, gates, and confirming the parking lot layout. It also helped the Civil Engineer, Josh Lighthipe (KPFF), and the Landscape Architect, Dylan Morgan (PLACE), get to better understand how the width of the site can be developed to maximize how much open space there is to appreciate the existing views of the Willamette River, the Broadway Bridge, and West Portland. Both Josh and Dylan have been critical in getting out site permitting drawings finalized and submitted to the city for their review, so being able to have them join us for in person collaboration and design thinking exercises as been incredible!
AfroVillage at Sustainable Building Week 2025
Dive into our blog post about this presentation that our design team led during Sustainable Building Week in October!
This event allowed us to share about where we’ve come from, we are, and where we are going with the AfroFuturism. We’ve shared our presentation slides and some photos!
Thank you to all who believed and continue to believe in this project
Special thank yous
Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF)
Nature in Neighborhoods (NiN grant from Metro
Local businesses and community donors
In-kind partnerships
We continue to seek funding for:
