The Hideo Sasaki Foundation announced today the finalists for its seventh annual Design Grants program. These eight teams will pitch to a jury of experts on Thursday, May 29, 5:30-8:00 p.m. at Pitch Night, a public event. The Design Grants are an annual competition to showcase projects that support and drive interdisciplinary innovation and empower our local communities.

Each year, the Hideo Sasaki Foundation announces research topics that address current trends and inequities in design. In 2025, the Hideo Sasaki Foundation focused on Creative Community Building, New Models for Housing, Innovation in Transit and Access to Mobility Choices, Innovation in Health and Wellbeing, Proactive Approaches to Climate Adaptation, and New Uses for AI in Design, under the theme of Shared Voices: Charting a Course for Community Action. This theme recognizes that multiple futures are at stake, and we can make a difference by acting now.

“We were thrilled with the response to this year’s call for proposals,” says Jennifer Lawrence, Executive Director. “The Hideo Sasaki Foundation is excited to consider proposals that address some of the most challenging issues facing local communities, including food justice, community for trans individuals, inclusive design for homeless support programs, mitigating urban heat, spaces for youth, and fostering community pride and connection.”

Applicants proposed projects to win cash awards and dedicated time with Sasaki designers. In the program’s seventh year, the Hideo Sasaki Foundation received 20 applications from multi-member teams competing for the opportunity to take advantage of this unique relationship with Sasaki, a global design firm. The projects represented 40+ organizations and institutions, 8 Boston communities, 2 Greater Boston cities, 3 Massachusetts Gateway Cities, and multiple proposals focusing on Greater Boston.

“We have a fantastic jury, representing a wide range of life experiences and Boston-area organizations: Boston Food Forest Coalition, Metropolitan Area Planning Council, New Urban Mechanics Labs, Sasaki, and Turner Construction Company, who will evaluate the teams on the design, equity, inclusion, innovation, and impact of their ideas,” says Timothy Gale, Jury Chair and Hideo Sasaki Foundation Trustee. “We’re excited to hear from these impressive teams that proposed ideas for our 2025 Design Grants. We welcome all to join us at 110 Chauncy on May 29 for Pitch Night!”

The 2025 Design Grant finalists are as follows:

Roxbury Food Truck Park

Community: Roxbury

Focus Area: Creative Community Building

CommonWealth Kitchen is excited to partner with the City of Boston, Madison Park Development Corporation, and the community to launch the Roxbury Food Truck Park. Roxbury, one of Boston’s historically underserved communities, has limited access to diverse and affordable food options. This initiative will transform underutilized public space along Malcolm X Boulevard to establish a food truck park, increasing access to healthy, culturally inclusive foods while creating economic opportunities for local entrepreneurs.

Trans Liberation Coalition

Community: Dorchester, Roslindale, and Roxbury

Focus Area: Creative Community Building, Innovation in Health and Wellbeing

The team aims to address the gaps in transgender support in Boston by exploring underserved neighborhoods they have identified as lacking transgender-specific resources or events. They will engage with the community through activities centered around art-based classes or community meals. They will analyze results and create a report for the City of Boston Mayor’s Office and local organizations. Alongside this, the team will create startup guides to help interested people host their own trans-oriented events, and host a co-created art website in the form of a digital garden.

Culinary Commons

Community: Dorchester

Focus Area: Creative Community Building

Culinary Commons is an initiative focused on establishing public kitchens as essential community infrastructure to foster food justice and social cohesion in urban areas like Boston. These sites serve as more than just cooking spaces; they are platforms for social change, enabling individuals to connect with their culinary heritage and build community ties. By addressing the lack of accessible venues for food-related gatherings, the team aims to create spaces where people can share meals, engage in culinary activities, and organize for food justice.

Designing Dignity: Accessibility Interventions in the Cambridge Homeless Meal Program Community

Community: Cambridge

Focus Area: Innovation in Health and Wellbeing

This project proposes a design intervention to enhance accessibility and dignity within the Loaves and Fishes Meal Program, Cambridge’s largest homeless community dinner serving 100+ diverse guests. The initiative focuses on creating an inclusive environment by identifying and addressing barriers that limit access for individuals with physical, cognitive, or emotional challenges. Proposed interventions include improvements to accessibility, wayfinding, serving flow, and material choices—tailored to the specific needs of the community. The outcome will be a design solution that supports safety, inclusivity, and dignity, fostering a sense of belonging for all who use the space.

The Artisanal Hub

Community: Mission Hill and Roxbury

Focus Area: Creative Community Building, Proactive Approaches to Climate Adaptation

The Artisanal Hub in Mission Hill and Roxbury is a proposal for a community pavilion, constructed entirely from locally sourced reused materials, as a vibrant symbol of sustainability and creativity. Designed to engage and inspire, it serves as an open platform for artists and makers to showcase the artistic potential of repurposed resources. The pavilion invites the public to experience how reclaimed items can be transformed into beauty and function. It fosters collaboration, dialogue, and education, highlighting the value of circular design. This dynamic space will both reflect the Mission Hill and Roxbury community’s environmental values and celebrate its rich tapestry of creative voices.

Cooling Yards Initiative

Community: Roxbury

Focus Area: Proactive Approaches to Climate Adaptation

The Roxbury Cooling Yards program is a climate resilience initiative designed to equip residents with essential resources and materials to mitigate the health risks associated with extreme heat, while fostering social cohesion in their preferred outdoor community spaces. The program prioritizes communities where residents with heightened heat vulnerability live—such as elderly and disabled residents living within urban heat islands—by providing accessible, user-friendly cooling equipment. These tools enable safe, communal gathering and enhance preparedness during periods of elevated temperatures, supporting both individual well-being and climate resilience through localized heat mitigation strategies.

SHADE

Community: Cambridge

Focus Area: Creative Community Building

SHADE is temporary, teen-led public art in public parks for public health. Over the next year, the team hopes to transition from a grant-funded organization to a teen-led earned income non-profit by further developing, open-sourcing, and leasing their product, SHADE. SHADE is a safe, affordable, temporary outdoor building system. Their mission is to empower regional teen teams and communities, like theirs, to address the teen mental health crisis by creating new destinations in public parks for teens to hang out, find friends, and make new ones in real life.

Hudson Street Stoop

Community: Chinatown

Focus Area: Creative Community Building, Innovation in Health and Wellbeing

Hudson Street Stoop is ACDC’s flagship, community-driven placekeeping program that convenes residents and local artists to co-create an interactive public art installation that is reflective of the community’s culture, history, and diverse experiences. This program seeks to rekindle the “stoop” culture that once defined the tight-knit social fabric of Chinatown before the construction of the highway in the 1960s divided the neighborhood and displaced hundreds of immigrant families. Residents serve on a committee to review the artist proposals, select artist partners, and approve installation designs.

If you would like to attend Pitch Night on May 29, either in person at 110 Chauncy in Downtown Boston or online, please register. We hope to see you there!