“We are sure as hell making a political statement”: the cultivation of safe space at and through The V3 Center in North Minneapolis

The construction of safe space in the design of sport organizations and sport for development and peace (SDP) programs has been empirically investigated. Constructing safe spaces is critical for enhancing feelings of safety for historically marginalized populations, yet there remain few studies that specifically focus on safe space and Black and People of Color communities. The purpose of this study is to examine the strategies used by staff members to construct The V3 Center as a safe space and the experiences of individuals within this safe space. The V3 Center is a new health, sport, and community center in North Minneapolis serving a predominantly Black community. Utilizing the multidimensional concept of safe space that includes physical, psychological, sociocultural, political, and experimental dimensions and a participatory action research (PAR) approach, this study illustrates what strategies staff of The V3 Center use to construct safe space and the experiences of safe space by users of the facility. Data collection with 22 individuals took place using semi-structured interviews and photovoice. The findings of this study, organized around the five dimensions of safe space, illustrate how risk-taking underpins the four other dimensions of safe space and how The V3 Center ultimately seeks to produce a space that challenges systemic inequalities experienced by North Minneapolis residents, particularly Black and People of Color populations. Theoretically, this study points to the importance of the interconnections of the dimensions of safe space and risk-taking through utilizing sports that are non-traditional in certain communities.