Smith David­son Lead­er­ship Ini­tia­tive (SDLI) recruits, selects, and teach­es John­son C. Smith Uni­ver­si­ty and David­son Col­lege stu­dents how to become lead­ers who make a dis­pro­por­tion­ate impact in the life of a city.  The pro­gram uses Char­lotte, North Car­oli­na, as train­ing grounds to teach stu­dents about chal­lenges that all cities face.

After sev­er­al failed attempts to work with oth­er design­ers who could­n’t cap­ture their brand inten­tion — root­ed in empow­er­ing com­mu­ni­ties of col­or- Dr. Ewoodzie reached out to NCD to devel­op their brand iden­ti­ty. The con­cepts they had received had mis­aligned ren­di­tions of brand­marks with Adinkra-infused her­itage where the sym­bol­ism behind them was lost. 

SDLI is more than a brand, it’s an expe­ri­ence whose mis­sion is about the peo­ple for the peo­ple — bring­ing human­i­ty and change for com­mu­ni­ties of col­or across our nation. We devel­oped an inten­tion­al brand iden­ti­ty that reflect­ed, ampli­fied, and hon­ored the impact com­mu­ni­ties of col­or can cre­ate in their cities.