It is located in Knoxville, Tennessee and is registered as a nonprofit corporation chartered as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization under IRS regulations.

Dozens of professional architects and students from the University of Tennessee donate their time and talent in order to assist charitable groups.

Those "Knoxville Nine" were the first of many VISTA's who served East Tennessee and their own career development by their work on Community Design Center projects.

Part-time staff includes an administrative assistant, a studio director and a DesignWorks program coordinator, along with a variable number of paid students primarily from The University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design.

The main types of projects that the staff works are community facilities, long range visioning and planning, landscaping, parks and playgrounds, as well as rehabilitation and reuse.

Some of the services provided are: Funding to sustain the operations is solely from competitive grants and donations from corporate sponsors and individuals in the community.

The Design Center fills this gap by providing conceptual only architectural and engineering services to community groups and nonprofit organizations early in the project development process.