REDI

REDI Partners Celebrate, Mobilize

Editor2 — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:38:59 -0600

By Christy Leffall

Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012, was a day to celebrate. REDI community partners gathered at Grace Lutheran Church in Richmond to celebrate the group’s accomplishments of the more than five-year General Plan campaign. Representatives from REDI partners included, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), Communities for a Better Environment (CBE), Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO), Faith Works, and Urban Habitat.

Community members from each group shared stories around their personal and group’s participation toward a vision for a better and more equitable Richmond. The partners were excited to reiterate their success in getting the Planning Commission to incorporate a majority REDI’s recommendations regarding jobs, transit, housing, safety, and community health in the final draft of the General Plan. This event was also a call to action to mobilize members to attend upcoming city council meetings and the impending general plan vote expected within the next few weeks.

After the General Plan is passed, REDI members will remain vigilant heading into the Housing Element analysis and implementation phases of the General Plan.

ACCE Looks to Bolster Richmond's Bank Foreclosure Ordinance

Editor2 — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:26:31 -0500

The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), held a community meeting on Sept. 6, to discuss enforcement of the anti-blight ordinance and other policies to refund and rebuild Richmond. ACCE, along with Urban Habitat, is a Richmond Equitable Development Initiative (REDI) Collaborative Partner. REDI is a collaborative of advocacy, research, and grassroots community-based organizations working together in Richmond and throughout the Bay Area on environmental justice and social justice issues.

Richmond City council votes to practice precaution

Editor2 — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:09:12 -0500

By Christopher Connelly

In a complex and dynamic world where scientific certainty is hard to come by and new technologies, chemicals and industrial processes are being introduced into the world, Richmond’s City Council decided that it is best to take a cautious approach to making policies and city planning. At least, that’s the aim of a resolution passed at last night’s city council meeting.

The idea behind the resolution is that the city should use the precautionary principle, which holds that if there is a possibility that a policy or plan will have potentially dangerous health or environmental impact—even if there is no scientific consensus—it is better to err on the side of caution. This resolution will put the burden of proof on companies proposing new developments and businesses within city limits to show that there is little chance that a local group will be negatively impacted. Although the resolution is symbolic, it is a statement that the council will consider health impacts for any decisions they make—like new buildings or industrial and manufacturing developments—and will ask the organization proposing a new action to prove that it is unlikely to cause harm.

REDI Leadership Training, May 21, 2011

Editor2 — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:03:37 -0500

Prepare to Speak out on Richmond's General Plan! Lift up your dreams for the city where you live.

When a city approves a General Plan, it makes a commitment to the kind of place it wants to be. This is our chance to prepare to speak out and calion the city's leaders to lift up our needs and dreams. The General Plan can help us make Richmond a safe, healthy and thriving place that has homes people can afford and sustainable jobs. A city that makes sure no neighborhoods bear more than their fair share of pollution, and polluters bear their fair share of cleaning up the air. The Richmond Planning Commission AND the City Council have to approve the plan. Get ready by attending the REDI Leadership Training- come strengthen your skills, speak up for your community!

Renovated Nevin Community Center rejuvenates Iron Triangle neighborhood

Editor2 — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:35:34 -0600

By Christina Lopez

After a citywide restoration project to revitalize the Nevin Community Center and the surrounding area, the center will celebrate with a much-anticipated grand re-opening celebration this Saturday.

“I think it’s part of the Iron Triangle cleaning itself up,” said nearby resident Richard Boyd, referring to the center’s new look from the inside out. For the last three months, the center’s doors have remained open as over 50 community members volunteered hundreds of hours to wax floors, paint walls, remove graffiti, refurbish classrooms, and collect trash surrounding the center.

“Teams would take shifts to renovate and clean the center. Those working would range from 14 years old to 77 years old and across all racial lines,” Boyd said. A resident of the Iron Triangle, Boyd also works with Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO), an interfaith organization comprised of 25 congregations and youth organizations representing 35,000 families throughout the county. He helped organize city officials’ visits to the park and generate interest from residents outside the Iron Triangle.

Greening Equity: Richmond, CA

Editor2 — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:46:54 -0500

Achieving Equity in Green Economic Development
A Publication of the Richmond Equitable Development Initiative (REDI)

The Greening Equity Report for Richmond, California is the result of the early community outreach and research efforts of the Richmond Equitable Development Initiative (REDI) to understand the state of the green economy in the greater Richmond area. The overarching goal of this report is to inform community members, local stakeholders and especially city officials and local leaders so that they can promote and support activities, programs, and policies that will advance equitable green economic development with an emphasis on the following areas:

Creating opportunities to grow green collar employment and businesses
Ensuring that new green jobs offer livable wages and benefits
Connecting residents to employment and/or training opportunities
Promoting efficient and environmentally-friendly land use decisions
Leveraging federal, state, and local funds to enhance economic opportunities for residents
Supporting policies that create new markets for green products and services.

Richmond General Plan 2010: Planning Like it's 1979

UH Staff — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:51:01 -0600

by Alex Schafran

This post was supposed to come to you live from the chambers of the Richmond (California) City Council, where the council had been scheduled to review the final administrative draft of a massive four year, $2.5 million general plan update. Posting from the chamber was not designed as an act of blogosphere theatre, nor because the global Polis audience was demanding a look inside the scintillating minutiae of the American planning process; rather, I was scheduled to testify in front of the council about how the travesty of what has happened to the hopes for equitable development or social justice being written into a document designed to guide "the next 100 years" of the city's development.

Laotian community fights Chevron, environmental injustice

UH Staff — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:39:02 -0600

Torm Nompraseurt with Laotian Organizing Project introduces the industrial
pollution condition in Richmond on the map in their office.

Richmond Economic Development Campaign

UH Staff — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:30:09 -0600

Richmond Economic Development Campaign Research tells us that there are connections between gun violence, educational opportunity, and employment. Per capita, Richmond has the highest homicide rate in Northern California. At the same time there are major opportunities to dramatically impact the economic environment and reduce gun-related violence.

Richmond has various initiatives and innovative programs that seek to address unemployment and underemployment and which have the potential to provide pathways out of poverty. There is more that can be done to support and create quality jobs and training opportunities.

Housing Campaign

UH Staff — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:23:41 -0500

Richmond residents have been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis. With nearly 2000 foreclosed homes owned by banks and more likely to come, heighborhoods are being torn apart.

This crisis illustrates the need for accountability from financial institutions the need for more effective policies at all levels of government that will stabilize communities by keeping families in their homes, revitalizing neighborhoods, and promoting affordable housing for Richmond residents.