Turning Community Participation Into Resident Leadership in North Richmond

The “Not for Us, Without Us!” project is a community-led planning process in North Richmond designed to make sure residents directly influence decisions about which kinds of climate adaptation, pollution reduction and just transition projects, come to their community. This process directly responds to long-standing environmental injustice in this frontline community, where people have lived with heavy industrial pollution, limited access to healthcare, transportation, and healthy food, along with a history of decisions being made without meaningful community input for decades. The process brought existing local and regional plans into conversation with residents, translating technical proposals into clear language and creating space for learning, discussion, and shared decision-making about what the community needs and wants for the future.

Over the course of multiple meetings, residents came together to learn about local and regional planning efforts, explore a wide range of proposed projects, all of which are based in and will directly serve North Richmond, and ultimately vote on the priorities they want to see realized in their community. But just as important as the outcomes of that vote was the process itself. By bringing the same group of participants together repeatedly, the project created space for relationships, trust, and shared understanding to grow. They engaged deeply, asked questions, debated ideas, and built knowledge about the systems shaping their neighborhood.

That sustained engagement led to something significant: a cohort of residents who are now more informed, more connected, and more invested in the future of North Richmond. Rather than allowing that energy and momentum to fade after the final voting event, organizers are working to continue and deepen that involvement through the creation of a Resident Leaders group.

The “Not for Us, Without Us!” project was always meant to be more than a series of meetings or a one-time vote. From the beginning, the goal was to build something lasting: not just a set of community priorities, but a group of people equipped to carry those priorities forward. Now, as Phase 1 of the project concludes, that next step is taking shape through the formation of a new Resident Leaders cohort in North Richmond, part of the larger North Richmond at the Table: Bringing Just Transition to Life initiative led by Urban Tilth’s Just Transition team.

This new cohort will play an active role in shaping what comes next. Resident Leaders will receive capacity-building support, including training designed to strengthen their skills as advocates and community decision-makers. This includes learning how to engage effectively with city and county processes, how to track project development, and how to speak up in spaces where key decisions are made. The aim is not only to keep residents informed, but to ensure they are positioned to influence outcomes.

As part of the broader North Richmond Resiliency Coalition, Resident Leaders will help guide the implementation of the projects identified through the “Not for Us, Without Us!” process. They will work to ensure that these projects continue moving forward, even as they enter more complex phases like funding, planning, and construction. Just as importantly, they will help hold partner organizations, public agencies, and other stakeholders accountable. This accountability is not only about whether projects get completed, but whether they remain aligned with the community’s vision and priorities.

The first step in launching this effort will be to formally convene the cohort and begin a series of trainings. From there, additional opportunities for involvement will continue to develop. Resident Leaders may participate in public meetings, contribute to ongoing planning conversations, support outreach efforts, and help mobilize other community members when collective action is needed. The structure is still evolving, but the intention is clear: this is about building long-term community leadership, not just short-term participation.

This next phase reflects a core principle that guided the project from the start. Too often, decisions about communities like North Richmond are made without meaningful input from the people who live there. “Not for Us, Without Us!” challenged that pattern by creating a process where residents could learn, deliberate, and decide together. The Resident Leaders cohort builds on that foundation by ensuring that community voice does not end with a vote, but continues as an ongoing force in shaping what happens next.

In many ways, this is where the real work begins. Projects will take time to fund and implement, and systems change does not happen overnight. But with a group of informed and engaged residents helping guide the process, North Richmond is better positioned to move forward in a way that reflects the needs, knowledge, and priorities of the community itself.

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