AfroVillage at Sustainable Building Week 2025
The AfroFuturism Oasis: Empowering Our Futures
AfroVillage had the honor of presenting at Sustainable Building Week (SBW) 2025 hosted by the ZERO Coalition! The presentation was hosted in PAE’s office, a living building that generates 100% of its energy through onsite and offsite solar arrays, meets 100% of its water needs through rainwater capture and treatment, as well as onsite composting toilet processing. We presented in the same space for SBW last year and were happy to be welcomed back again!
At this year’s event there was a lot of energy as we had around 50 people in attendance who listened to the team share the update on the project from the past year! The presentation started with Q sharing on the history so many Black Portlander’s are tied to, followed by a visioning exercise about what an Oasis might feel like for each individual present, Kirk asked “What struggles are in your neighborhood, and what kind of oasis can you build to serve your community?” and encouraged folks to write, draw, or simply envision, their neighborhood, what struggles are there , and what kind of oasis they could build to serv their community.” Then, Kyhetica ‘Ky’ touched on many of the lessons learned, obstacles, and moments from the past year joined by Q and Kirk, ending on a call to action for financial, volunteer, material, and creative thinking to help us problem solve how to help this project come into fruition.
The event was a way of fundraising for AfroVillage’s programs with the Oasis as a focus. We had a raffle with 16 different items folks could purchase tickets for - sales being directly donated to AfroVillage. Ticket sales to the event were also donation based and at the event there was the option to scan a QR code and donate directly to The Village. Overall just over $3,000 was raised from this event, to support winter kits, volunteer events that support the Oasis, and other ways we can directly support The Village community. Thank you!
We’ve added our slides from Sustainable Building Week 2025 below! They walk through the vision behind the AfroFuturism Oasis, what we’ve learned over the past year, and where we’re headed next. If you couldn’t join us in person, these slides are a glimpse into what’s been growing, our wins, challenges, and the deep care driving this work forward. Take a look, share your thoughts, and keep moving forward with us.
