RICHMOND — Through a $1.5 million allocation, Richmond councilmembers hope to develop a clear picture of the issues faced by its Black residents and to fund solutions to uplift that segment of the community.
The money approved Tuesday will go toward creating the city’s first State of Black Richmond Report and Black Resiliency Project and Fund, an initiative brought forward by Councilmember Doria Robinson, a lifelong Richmond resident concerned by what she said has been “an explicit lack of investment” in the city’s Black community for decades.
The goal, Robinson said, is to deeply evaluate the historic issues Black residents have faced, including homelessness, barriers to stable housing, poor health outcomes, less access to adequate education, lower graduation rates and violence. A community advisory committee would then create recommendations for solutions and the city would seek out philanthropic support to help see those suggestions actualized.
“When you have multiple problems hitting a population in this way, you focus your efforts just like in an emergency room,” Robinson said. “You might have a whole bunch of people come in. Who do you take first? The folks having the most problems, the gun shot victims, the person having a heart attack, the people having the most acute problems.”
While the council unanimously backed Robinson’s initiative, councilmembers Soheila Bana and Jamelia Brown shared concerns about potentially spending city money on studies that already exist or hiring a consultant when some work can be done by city staff.
Brown noted that Contra Costa County worked with the firm Ceres Policy Research to study disparities in the Black community, including in Richmond, and possible solutions as part of its efforts to create an African American Holistic Wellness and Resource Hub.
“I’m definitely for this project, by all means. I just want to make sure that we’re not duplicating resources in terms of studies that exist that have already been covered that already tell us the state of Black residents in Richmond and Contra Costa County overall,” Brown said.
Robinson clarified that new studies would only be conducted if information holes were discovered after existing research and data was gathered.
And while existing reports do address some of the underlying issues facing Black residents, Robinson stressed the importance of aggregating data specific to Richmond’s Black residents so the city can take a holistic approach to remedying problems and uplifting those struggling most.
Much of the initial work can be conducted by in-house analyst and public health expert Yahna Williamson under the guidance of Deputy City Manager Lashonda White, City Manager Shasa Curl said.
Additional support could be sought out if needed, keeping costs to a minimum and preserving the remaining funding for the Black Resiliency Project and Fund, Curl said.
Under Robinson’s proposal, which was co-sponsored by councilmembers Claudia Jimenez and Sue Wilson, the project and funds would be subject to oversight by a community advisory body who would make recommendations to the council who will have the ultimate say on how the funds are spent.
The proposal received strong backing from Vice Mayor Cesar Zepeda, who called it a council obligation, and Jimenez, who compared the initiative to the city’s recent support for immigrants facing increased threats of deportation by the Trump administration.
“We supported the immigrant community, and particularly the undocumented community, with a fund,” Jimenez said. “I think that this is how we show solidarity also to other communities, in particular the Black community who has been left out from investments for a long time.”