Operation Shoestring is a community non-profit organization that has been promoting health and self-sufficiency in under-resourced Jackson neighborhoods since 1968. The group's core outreach is after-school programs and parent support.

Operation Shoestring had been doing amazing work from its existing building in northwest Jackson, but the group was in need of a strategic plan to refocus its efforts as well as a facility plan to address the deteriorating condition of its existing building. Duvall Decker was commissioned in 2014 to help with both of these.

Expand Practice: Serve Clients' Diverse Needs:
Duvall Decker's expanded practice provided both the early planning services as well as the facilities maintenance services that Operation Shoestring needed.

Duvall Decker guided a strategic planning process that engaged all stakeholders, from the members of communities served to the leadership. The process revealed the need for Operation Shoestring to shed extraneous programs and focus on its most successful and impactful efforts; after-school programs and related parent support programs. The facilities planning process revealed that the condition of the roof was threatening the structure. Improper slope, drainage, and edge details were forcing water to the pond.

The priority was to keep serving children and their parents, but there were no funds to repair the roof. While Duvall Decker worked with Operation Shoestring to complete a capital campaign, its facilities maintenance staff allowed the facility to stay open. Maintenance staff monitored the weather every day, and on days with downpours or extended rain, they literally swept the water from the roof to prevent structural damage or collapse.

Work in the Margins, Create Margins to Inhabit:
The existing building was dark and utilitarian, broken up into small rooms, and had no safe drop-off or playground. The design opened up the building and then created margins to inhabit. Bay windows were cut in and made into margins at the edge of larger classrooms and study areas. Doors and passages were made into occupiable thresholds, margins between spaces. A half-round theater and meeting room engage the larger spaces. A long shaded porch makes pick-up and drop-off comfortable and uplifts the existing low-slung building.