If there was a moment that changed the race for the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor, it would definitely be when Senator Ghazala Hashmi delivered a speech in the bed of a pickup truck outside of a protest against Governor Glenn Youngkin in Church Hill....
In April of 2018, Richmond received a rude wake-up call. We were called out on the front page of the New York Times for chronically tolerating the second-highest eviction rate in the country, over 4 times the national average. Even today, in 2021, thirty percent of renters in the City of Richmond get an eviction notice on their door every...
I’m attending a conference in Washington, D.C and it’s finally lunch break. I’ve been inside one room all morning and this break is my first opportunity to grab a bite to eat and hopefully, sit near a window with some sun. Conference attendees are milling about, and as most breaks during conferences go, conversation with other attendees is a...
A racially equitable Richmond is a city that makes my dad feel comfortable and welcome. I grew up as the only child of my single-mother, Lydia Mercado. I had a complicated relationship with my biological father, Dimiter Gorchev, who was 23 years older than my mother. Dimiter struggled to connect with me, his Puerto Rican daughter who grew up...
As a Black woman who grew up in New York and has now lived in Virginia for 18 years, I’ve seen racial differences written into every landscape of my life for as long as I can remember. I began to notice these differences when I was around 8 years old. As I rode through my working-class Black and Latino community in Hempstead, NY into Garden...
At VCU, adjunct professors make up as many as half of total instructors in some departments. Now they are campaigning to receive a living wage from the university that relies on their labor. Roughly 100 Virginia Commonwealth University instructors are demanding what many adjuncts across the state want: a fair wage. Pay for adjunct instructors...
On International Women’s Day, Rachel Scott Everett and Altimese Nichole point out the importance of acting to create the racial and gender equity we need more of in the world — a movement in which Girls For A Change are at the forefront. What does leadership look like in our country? What does it look like in our community? Local...
The twelfth and final installment in a monthly series in which a hometown Richmonder who has spent over a decade abroad explores the many different neighborhoods accessible by GRTC bus lines to discover the ways transit connects us all. Scott’s Addition: When out-of-towners tell you they had a great time in Richmond recently, they almost...
In the Richmond City Jail, COVID safety protocols look a lot like torture. If anyone doubts how little the City of Richmond values the emotional well-being of incarcerated people, they should look no further than the Richmond City Jail’s harsh (and unacknowledged) quarantine measures. Over the course of five months, from June through...
Have you felt misunderstood by someone with different beliefs from you? Are there life experiences of yours you want to share? “One Small Step” is looking to connect Richmonders with different perspectives and beliefs — one conversation at a time. A new program, “One Small Step,” has launched in Richmond, in hopes of bridging deep divisions in...
