Authored by Kyndelle Johnson, RPA intern

In August, the RPA announced its collaboration with community members and community organizers to develop The Listening Project, a people-centered process to guide our local transition away from the fossil fuel industry. To build this project, we have happily invited four new organizers to help us uplift voices left behind in the city’s political and economic history.

Please welcome:

Alfredo Angulo (He/Him/They/Them), Organizer

Alfredo is a lifelong resident of Richmond and has been actively involved in Bay Area political action since high school. They are currently a senior at UC Berkeley studying Political Science and are interested in grassroots political organizing and local government. They have high hopes for the future of our city and are to be a part of that change!

Kevin Ruano Hernandez (He/Him/El), Organizer

Kevin is a community activist in Richmond with public health principles, community organizing skills, and research skills. He represents several Richmond nonprofit organizations and strives to accomplish health equity for all disadvantaged communities.

Andres Felix (He/ Him), Organizer

Andres was born in Southern California and has now lived in the Bay Area for five years. He has been working with Urban Tilth for over a year and, through that work, has gained an appreciation for the Richmond community. 

Dani Zacky (She/Her), Organizer

Dani is new to the East Bay, and is earning a BA in Geography with a focus on political ecology. Passionate about environmental and social justice, Dani hopes to help create a world in which her research is used to create policies to uplift communities and address systematic racism and oppression.​​

Many of the organizers on our team are youth who have been personally and generationally affected by the city’s historic political and economic decision-making. That is why we are coming together as Richmond youth— to intentionally sit down and listen to the marginalization our young people have faced, and the solutions they have subsequently come to, based on their lived experiences.

Today, Richmond's Black and Brown youth are silenced on many levels. Their families’ livelihoods have been left behind in the economic expansion of our cities, their political power and voting rights have been diminished, and their academic success has not been deemed a priority by the school officials.

To center listening and healing, the Listening Project team has decided to coordinate a Youth Listening Session to be the first phase of The LP.  We are hosting the online session on September 18th, 2021 TBD. Youth aged 14-24 are invited to participate in our discussion. Please bring your stories, along with an open heart and mind.  

On Zoom, we hope to facilitate deep community and connection building in order to grow trust and camaraderie between attendees. Our goal is to fostern-depth discussions about the key issues that plague our community, through the lens of a building back from the fossil fuel industry’s domination on our city. 

To hear updates or follow the story of the Listening Project please follow our social media on Facebook, Twitter at @RCA_lstngprjct and Instagram at @richmondlisteningproject

While we continue to coordinate the youth listening project, we will begin to survey and connect with community members throughout Richmond to build data and context for our project. To learn more about the Listening Project or if you are a youth interested in participating in the Youth Listening Session, feel free to email us at [email protected]. 

Author Bio: Kyndelle Johnson (She/Her) is a recent graduate of Political Science at Oberlin College. Since moving back to her hometown of Richmond, she has been using her studies to help connect the struggles she has learned about and apply them to the issues that plague her current community. She is supporting the Listening Project as the Summer 2021 Richmond Progressive Alliance Youth Intern.