Community Leaders Come Together to Call for one Richmond to be Alive, Free, and United

On mothers day weekend a spark was unleashed in Richmond as hundreds of community leaders and city officials came together at Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church to call for one Richmond to be Alive, Free, and United. Sponsored by CCISCO, the Safe Return Project and the Pacific Institute this event was meant to bring people together across racial, cultural and religious differences to create a greater sense of unity in the community as we work towards confronting the serious set of issues facing Richmond today. 

Throughout the event we heard research and powerful testimonies related to decreasing gun violence through the Cease Fire-Life Lines to Healing movement, on creating a first stop welcome home center in Richmond for formerly incarcerated peoples, on the importance of continuing to fund adult education so those most at risk have access to classes which can help them create a better future, and finally we heard testimony from on ending mass deportation and incarceration in Contra Costa County as the community called for the county to stop turning undocumented immigrants over to ICE. As Nora Gonzales, whose husband was nearly deported two weeks ago stated, “Today, I am here because I witnessed the pain a mother goes when anti-immigration laws are imposed on immigrant communities. I do not wish that any mother suffer from this. The future of this society is the children. What can we hope of a society that is torturing children because they are being separated from their parents by massive deportations and incarcerations. Stop turning fathers and mothers into ICE is the right thing to do."

After the testimonials each of the officials in attendance were asked to articulate their views on these issues and one by one Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, Contra Costa County probation officer Philip Kader, Richmond City manager Bill Lindsey, Chief Chris Magnus of the City of Richmond Police Department and Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin each showed their support on these important issues.  Bill Lindsey after reading directly from our recently published report Alive, Free, and United stated, “Your doing so much, and so when I am presented with ideas that you’ve helped to work on how can I possibly say no. What you’re doing is working, your ideas are working and I want to keep that partnership going.” In addition to this in summarizing her support for these issues Mayor McLaughlin stated, The One Stop center is something I fully, fully believe is needed…and funding it is essential. For funding the service provisions for Cease Fire, absolutely…In terms of a community benefits agreement with the Berkeley Lawrence National Labs, absolutely…. I can’t wait to be a sponsor of bringing Ban the Box to the city council, so that we can expand that to vendors working in the city."

In the coming months CCISCO leaders plan on continuing to fight for a Unified Richmond as we engage in negotiations with the Contra Costa Sheriff this month, help to introduce legislation to expand ban the box as a county wide initiative in the next 60 days. We also plan on meeting with the Community Corrections Partnership to ensure funding for the first stop welcoming center and transitional employment, and we are just beginning to gear up for our massive civic engagement campaign where we are going to speak with 10,000 Richmond voters this fall before the 2012 election.  

Read or download our report on Scribd here: Alive, Free, and United: A Community-Driven Strategy to Save Lives and Build Opportunity in Richmond by Reducing Gun Violence and Ending Mass Incarceration & Mass Deportation

To see a summary of the event check out our Storify here, look at our Facebook photos from the event to read the full testimonials.

Help Save Lives and Keep Families United – Richmond, May 12th

We would like to invite you to our upcoming action in Richmond, "Take Action to Save Lives and Keep Families United" on Saturday, May 12th, 2012 from 10:00am to 12:30pm at Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church, 684 Juliga Woods Street in Richmond.  

Since last summer, CCISCO and Safe Return Project leaders have worked hard to achieve a significant impact, including the passage of a 'ban the box' resolution in the city of Richmond, passage of a Municipal ID, a new towing policy, and helping to launch the Richmond Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing movement in Richmond.  

At the action, we will continue discussions about a strategic approach to ensuring that all Richmond residents live in a safe environment with opportunities for youth and adults to succeed.  Clergy and community leaders will be presenting their vision and agenda to bring equity and justice around a critical set of issues that impact the future of Richmond. We will be highlighting our agenda to make Richmond a land of peace and opportunity, including: 

• Strengthening the Ceasefire-Lifelines to Healing movement by funding the service strategy for those most at-risk of gun violence and strengthening collaboration of all key stakeholders;
• Creating a safe return for formerly incarcerated residents by funding the "first stop welcoming center" in Richmond and expanding the "ban the box" legislation to city vendors;
• Keep families united by stopping cooperation with ICE holds at a county level;
• Negotiating a community benefits agreement with the new Lawrence Berkeley National Lab coming to Richmond; &
• Protecting funding for adult education.

We will also be announcing our plans to launch an aggressive civic engagement campaign to contact over 10,000 Richmond voters about our agenda.  These are urgent issues that are of vital importance to the future of our city.  At the action, we will be announcing our organization's commitment to enact these important proposals for change and we are inviting public officials to respond to our proposals at the event.

Please Register for this event on Facebook HERE

If you have any questions about the event please contact Claudia Jimenez at (510) 414-9025 or via email at claudia@ccisco.org or Eugene Jackson at 510-593-8994. We thank you for your commitment to improving the lives of Richmond residents and we hope to hear from you soon.