Building Community Conversations with Black & Latino Residents in Richmond's Southside

On Easter Monday, April 18th Initiatives of Change USA hosted Community Conversations with the Afro-Latino Community Coalition. This was an open dialogue between Southside residents and Virginia's representatives including state senators - Senator Ghazala Hashmi and Senator Jennifer McClellan as well City Council 9th district member, Dr. Michael Jones. Discussions around the local implications of President Biden's Infrastructure and Build Back Better bills were shared with residents.

The “SCORE Card” Initiative by Rodney Gaines and Sean Crippen for Virginia Community Voice was also detailed and highlighted key issues in terms of road safety, transportation, job employment, and access to healthy food and wellness options for Southside residents. Participants in the conversation also shared revealing stories that demonstrated the need for regular conversation spaces with local and state government leaders in order to level concerns and create actionable plans for community infrastructure issues to be resolved.

This Community Conversation was the second of many to come where we will continue to bring together members of African and Latino Communities to achieve lasting transformation in Richmond's Southside.

Special gratitude for Initiatives of Change USA team members Allan-Charles Chipman and Pearl Wise-Crawley for developing this space, Bishop Ernest Moore Jr. and Marah Cortes for collaborating on this initiative and all of our speakers and participants for taking part!