About Us
Community members gather for our first annual fundraiser at Pentridge Garden. Photo: Bunni
Deep Space Mind (215) is a self-determined, community-driven site of diverse practices.
Our initiatives center the healing work of those who have been traditionally underserved by the psychiatric/non-profit industrial complex in Philadelphia.
Mission
Deep Space Mind (215) is a community-based mental health co-operative centering and developing mental health workers.
We support practitioners with lived experience of mental health challenges, neurodiversity, and/or institutionalization.
DSM(215) facilitates creative community, visioning, and action around community wellness and resilience.
Our Values
DSM(215) is committed to providing support that honors the following commitments:
Connection
Practicality
Intergenerational and local wisdom
Futurity and creativity
Narrative change and justice
Our History
2015
Deep Space Mind (215) began as a workshop developed by Ras Stanford in 2015 for the Afrofuturism Now! Festival at WORM Rotterdam. It has since grown into a sustained community-grown project.
2020
In 2020, Mel Brown joined the project to co-found Deep Space Mind 215 Cooperative.
2021
DSM.215 became a fiscally sponsored program of The Federation of Neighborhood Centers.
Current—Future
Co-founders Ras Stanford and Mel Brown bring both professional and lived experience in the psychiatric industrial complex. They have integrated their wisdom into an effective community-based practice that centers the expertise of those most affected by the psychiatric industrial complex.
DSM.215 Co-op seeks board members and community partners as we continue building towards sustainability and impact.
Annual Reports
In the Press
- Your Voice Matters! Join Us for a Climate Ready Workshop — Philadelphia Office of Sustainability, 2026
- Borealis Philanthropy Launches the Black Disabled Liberation Project — Borealis Philanthropy, 2024
- Deep Space Mind 215 at the Barra Foundation — Barra Foundation, 2024
- Philadelphians imagine better “housing futures” for the city, by Jordan Levy — Billy Penn, 2023
- The Return of Afrofuture Fest in 2023: Reflections on the Past and Communal Futures, by Adrienne Ayers — Riverwise Detroit, 2023
- Two organizations collaborate for an important conversation through art, by Molly Given — Philly Metro, 2021
- COVID-19’s Impact on Race and Housing Security Across Philadelphia: Philadelphia Renters Report — Community Legal Services, 2021
- Black Muscle Memory: Exploring Black Womxn’s Labor at Time Camp 004 — Black Quantum Futurist Collective, 2020
- Deep Space Mind: Designing and Documenting Mental Wellness in Community, by Ras Stanford — Blade of Grass Magazine, Challenging Normativity Issue 3, 2020
- So the Body May Think, Feel, Move: Healing, Justice, and Performative Embodiment, with Shaun Leonardo — The New Museum, 2019