The Richmond Racial Equity Essays idea was inspired by and modeled after The Just City Essays: 26 Visions of Equity, Inclusion and Opportunity, an e-book of 26 Essays edited by Toni L. Griffin, Ariella Cohen and David Maddox and published by J. Max Bond Center on Design for the Just City at the City College of New York, the Nature of Cities and Next City. Using the Just City Essays as a model, urban planner and consultant Ebony Walden collaborated with Dr. Meghan Gough from VCU's Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and urban farmer and activist Duron Chavis, to create a similar collection of 24 essays along with 7 video interviews and an 8-episode podcast series focused on racial equity In Richmond. We hope to capture voices from all walks of life and sectors in Richmond - from activists to academics, representing the diversity of the Richmond community. The goal is to explore what an equitable Richmond looks like, especially as it relates to racial equity and highlight the strategies that will help us get there. We’d like the ideas from the essays and videos to create a solid framework for advancing racial equity in Richmond, Virginia.
Mobility is freedom, but just as the slaveholders who founded this country never believed in liberty for all, today too one need only look at a map of Richmond’s bus system to see the limits of many folks’ freedom. Routes that end at the county line and buses that...
When I was seven years old, I lived through one of the deadliest weather-related disasters in recent U.S. history. It was July 1995 and my family lived in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago, IL, in a two-story house on a corner lot with a big, beautiful weeping...
Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Think back to the last time you were outside under the shade of a tree enjoying the breeze, the chirping birds, and the fresh air. Did your shoulders drop? Did some tension leave your body? Did you feel refreshed? If you...
Anyone who has been on the leadership team of a health organization in the past few years can tell you that when it’s time to update your strategic plan or submit a proposal for funding, the word “equity” goes front and center. Organizations across the region (my own...
Prison Isn’t Working In her book detailing the work of Common Justice, a New York-based incarceration alternative to violent crime convictions, Danielle Sered writes that there are four core drivers of violence -- shame, isolation, exposure to violence, and a...