Justice Funders, Chorus Foundation, the Good Life Pledge, Full Spectrum Capital Partners, Kataly Foundation, East Bay Community Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, and Solidaire Network hosted a three-part webinar series, Just Transition in Richmond: Resist, Rethink, Restructure.
In this series, leaders of the Richmond Our Power Coalition described how they are building a just transition to a regenerative, living economy in Richmond, CA. Supporters were encouraged to contribute to the Richmond Just Transition Fund.
Part I: Sowing the Seeds
Watch recording here
- Doria Robinson, Urban Tilth
- Ernesto Arevalo, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE)
- Denny Khamphanthong, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
- Moderated by Katt Ramos, Richmond Our Power Coalition (ROPC)
- Featuring Kat Taylor, Co-creator of the Good Life Pledge
Part II: Caring for Each Other & Our Home
Watch recording here
- Valerie Jameson, Richmond LAND
- Princess Robinson, Cooperation Richmond
- Jason Woody, Rich City Rides
- Moderated by Katt Ramos, Richmond Our Power Coalition (ROPC)
- Featuring Ray Holgado of the Kataly Foundation
Part III: Deep Democracy, Mass Liberation & Self-Determination
Watch recording here
- Melvin Willis, Alliance for Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE)
- Jovanka Beckles, Richmond Progressive Alliance
- Chala Bonner, Safe Return Project
- Moderated by Katt Ramos, Richmond Our Power Coalition (ROPC)
- Featuring Farhad Ebrahimi of the Chorus Foundation
The current extractive economy has been built upon centuries of extraction of the land, labor, and resources of Black, Indigenous and People of Color. At the same time, the very communities on the frontlines of multiple crises–economic, climate, and racial injustice–have been at the forefront of the solution.
Richmond, California is one of the communities that is modeling what just transition looks like through the visionary leadership of the Richmond Our Power Coalition (ROPC).
ROPC is home to nine base-building organizations, who are building political, economic, cultural, and people power to achieve a just transition to a living, local economy that drives racial justice and social equity and democratizes wealth and the workplace.
Together, ROPC resists and sows the seeds by stopping the bad and building the new:
- Communities for a Better Environment is fighting to decommission the Chevron Refinery, which has contributed to over 120 years of health and environmental harm in Richmond, California–a city that is over 80 percent Black, Latinx and Asian American.
- Asian Pacific Environmental Network is fostering intergenerational approaches to climate resilience in five languages.
- Urban Tilth is growing food sovereignty and repairing our relationships to land and nature.
ROPC rethinks our relationships to each other and the land by centering the principle of “caring for each other and our home:”
- Rich City Rides is transforming the streets of Richmond by building the Black Wellness Hub and paving the way for more bicycle infrastructure.
- Cooperation Richmond is training Richmond residents to launch cooperative enterprises that support shared leadership among workers.
- Richmond LAND is designing the infrastructure for grassroots planning and community governance of land.
ROPC restructures our systems for deep democracy, mass liberation, and self-determination:
ROPC is building the regenerative future that our movements and communities long for and deserve.