By Alfredo Angulo

Rich City Rides (RCR) and Direct Action Everywhere (DXE) Vegan Pop Up with student organizer Zack and LP organizers Alfredo and Marisol

The Listening Project has been hard at work since you last heard from us! While some changes have occurred, our mission remains the same: to share the stories and amplify the voices most harmed by the climate crisis and fossil fuel operations in Richmond.

We are especially proud to announce that The Listening Project Podcast has reached over 500 listeners. Since February, we have released 5 more episodes: Polluting Politics, Buying Us Out, Union Proud, We Deserve Nothing Less, and Imagine, our season finale. You can find the LP Podcast on the RPA Youtube Channel or Spotify. Remember to like, comment, and subscribe!

In partnership with UC Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute, we are co-creating a report on the harms and benefits of the Chevron Refinery on our community. The scope of this report is ambitious: we will be examining the consequences of housing Chevron on our politics, economy, public health, environment, and much more. We hope this report will serve as a tool for local officials, community leaders, and organizations to better understand the impact of the refinery as we begin to plan a fossil-fuel free Richmond.  We are planning to publish this report in the next few months. 

As negotiations between the United Steel Workers (USW) Local 5 and Chevron continue, we stand in solidarity with the workers striking in defense of public health and worker protections. After Chevron brought forth multiple contract proposals that did not meet the workers’ demands, the workers went on strike! We have developed a toolkit for community members to call into Public Comment at City Council meetings in support of this labor action. Episode 8 of the LP Podcast, “Union Proud,” is a conversation between Councilmember and Mayoral Candidate Eduardo Martinez and B.K. White (VP of USW Local 5) about strengthening the relationship between Richmond residents and refinery workers. 

We created the Listening Project Website, which houses our materials as well as our Environmental Justice Community Calendar. This calendar, with input from ROPC and Bay Area environmental justice partners, is a place for community members to find opportunities to get involved in climate justice actions. We will use the website as a tool to mobilize our community to take action when needed. 

Moving forward with educating our community, we have developed the Listening Project Curriculum. It will be shared with educators in Richmond high schools, non-profits, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and the local college. This curriculum provides key concepts, critical thinking questions, and art activism templates to use in conjunction with our podcast, with the aim of educating youth on the impacts of Chevron on our community. If you are an educator or part of an organization that would be interested in learning about the Listening Project, please email us at [email protected]. 

Starting April 1st, we will be featured on El Show de Andres on KPFA 94.1 every Friday at 10:30AM! Our podcasts episodes will be showcased for 4 weeks as Andres Soto takes a well-deserved vacation. Thank you, Andres Soto, for sharing this space with us! 

Join us on April 23rd 10-2p.m. at Unity Park, where we’ll be participating in an Earth Day celebration! We will be there with screen printing, listening stations, and activities for us to engage in vision-building towards a just transition!