The church’s theme of the month is persistence and it comes at the perfect moment to recount the RISC justice victories that we saw at the Nehemiah ACTION on May 2, attended by about 1000 citizens (60 from our church.)

This year RISC took on lack of affordable housing and the city’s eviction crisis. From months of research we identified the issues, the best practices and the implementation problems with each of them.

We realized that a significant problem was that renters’ leases did not protect the renter from any short term ‘hickup’ (health, car breakdown, job transition) in their ability to pay rent. Though there were local efforts to help, research revealed two powerful best practices:  increase the stock of affordable housing in the city and provide a better way to support those in jeopardy of eviction.

And those best practices came with Mayor Stoney’s proposed city budget: $2.9 million for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and $485,000 for an Eviction Diversion Program (based on proven programs in other cities). While RISC was careful to stay out of the budget/tax battle between the Mayor and the City Council, during that battle several council members threatened to cut housing and eviction diversion funding.  We needed PERSISTENCE.

RISC members met with Council members and came to the Council’s April 22 budget meeting, where over a dozen RISC members spoke with passion and with data in support of these items. We were told that our comments helped to catalyze Council members to assure their approval. PERSISTENCE.

And at the Nehemiah ACTION on May 2 we again spoke with passion and facts and the Council members either came to show their support or wrote letters in support. You can see the letters at the bottom of the RISC webpage: http://www.riscrichmond.org/eviction-action. PERSISTENCE.

The other major issue at the Nehemiah ACTION was to address the reading to grade level problem in the Richmond City Schools. At the 2018 Nehemiah ACTION RPS Superintendent Kamras committed to a follow up meeting to consider piloting a proven curriculum for getting students reading to grade level —  Reading Mastery.  Then in June, RPS agreed to pilot the program in the Fall 2018 semester in a couple of schools.  They piloted it in EIGHT! But not with the fidelity that RISC recommended. So at the 2019 ACTION RISC asked RPS to continue the pilot and to improve upon it as well. PERSISTENCE. RISC plans to meet again with the Superintendent and the Chief Academic Officer to move these improvements forward. PERSISTENCE.

One of the ways that RISC succeeds is that we don’t go away. We PERSIST even if it takes years. It is not so much that we are patient; it is more that we don’t take NO for an answer!

RISC’s One Night for Justice – the Nehemiah ACTION

Thursday May 2 – 7:00 Good Shepard Church

Where RISC will address

• The eviction crisis
• Richmond students reading to grade level
• Student trauma training in Chesterfield
• Updates on the healthcare career pipeline

RISC succeeds because of organized people that work in solidarity with over 20 other faith communities. At the ACTION we ask for clear commitments from local decision makers to enact fair policies.

Join 1200 of our citizens at The Nehemiah ACTION:

May 2 at Good Shepherd Baptist Church, 1127 N. 28^th Street in Richmond. Doors open at 6:15. Choir and childcare start at 6:30. Assembly starts promptly at 7:00 and will be over before 8:30. To get your free pass go to: RISCaction2019.eventbrite.com.

See the exciting ACTION video – click here.

Questions? Contact Steve Saltzberg at 804-306-5184, stevesaltzberg@gmail.com

RISC 90 Second Story –

Eviction Crisis

A RISC 90 Second Story is the “elevator speech” about RISC’s work on a specific research issue. Our first two stories were about education. First was the Reading to Grade level efforts with Richmond Public Schools; the second with Chesterfield Public Schools to support Child Trauma training. This week the 90 Second Story is about what RISC is doing on the Eviction crisis in Richmond.

Richmond – Housing and Eviction Crisis

Introduction: Through RISC, we address serious problems in our community and overcome our region’s historic divisions by joining with 21 diverse faith communities.

The Problem: The city of Richmond has the second highest eviction rate in the nation! 17 households are evicted every day. Over 40,000 of our residents are affected by eviction annually. The major cause of eviction is the inability to pay a month’s rent when some unexpected problem occurs (e.g., related to jobs, health). We know that stable housing is the bedrock for getting jobs and for students to receive a decent education.

The Solution: There are two elements to addressing the problem. The long term solution is to increase the stock of affordable housing units. The short term is to provide resources and support for our citizens facing eviction now! The Mayor’s 2019/20 budget addresses both the long term and short term issues by increasing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to $2.9M and, for the first time, creating an Eviction Diversion Program funded at $485K.

The Obstacle: The mayor is funding these programs as part of an increase in property tax – which is not currently getting the support it needs to pass. Our strategy is to support the increase in the trust fund and the creation of the Eviction Diversion Program independent of the source of revenue (the Richmond budget is about $500,000).

The Hero: The EDP will support those in jeopardy of being evicted. The citizens that go through the ordeal of eviction are our heroes as we find ways to better support a stable housing environment in Richmond.

The Resolution: Our Eviction Research Team will be vigilant meeting with all the City Council members and the mayor.  Together, with the power of over 1,000 people, we will once again gather this year to ask for an effective solution to Richmond’s eviction crisis by funding the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the Eviction Diversion Program that are in the Mayor’s budget.

RISC 90 Second Story – Chesterfield Schools

A RISC 90 Second Story is the RISC “elevator speech” about RISC’s efforts on a specific research issue. Last week the 90 Second Story was about the Reading to Grade level efforts with Richmond Public Schools. This week’s 90 Second Story is about the Child Trauma training efforts with Chesterfield Public Schools. Next week the 90 Second Story will be about what RISC is doing on the Eviction crisis in Richmond.

Chesterfield – Student Trauma

Introduction: Through RISC, we address serious problems in our community and overcome our region’s historic divisions by joining with 21 diverse congregations.

The Problem: In Chesterfield County Public Schools, our children were suffering from high rates of school suspensions, and impacted by the suicides of 3 students in 2016. The suspensions were highest in students of color and with handicaps. We also saw behavior issues and mental health issues on the rise that may be the result of traumatic experiences.

The Solution: School staff and teachers can be trained to recognize child trauma using nationally-recognized program ACE Interface. This program could be provided for free for all Chesterfield schools through the Virginia Dept. of Behavioral Health.

The Obstacle: Leaders in Chesterfield schools made a commitment to train 100% of staff members with ACE Interface, but they have not followed through on their commitment. School officials are buying into the myth of scarcity, that they don’t have the resources to efficiently train every staff member.

The Hero: We believe that by partnering with well-known organizations in our community that are already providing trauma response training, Chesterfield can take advantage of the abundance of resources in our region and offer an effective, efficient training to every staff member. This will have an immense impact on the well-being and safety of our students and teachers. Our children, who are our heroes, are depending on us to stand together for this solution. Together, with the power of over 1,000 people, we will once again gather this year to ask for an effective response to trauma in our schools.

The Resolution: We are following up on Chesterfield Schools’ commitments and requesting details on the current training as well as next steps. We are determined to ensure that teachers get the trauma-informed care training that they need so students feel safe and ready to learn!

Conclusion: I’m part of RISC because our children need our commitments to justice…Each of us can help win justice by bringing at least 3 people to the Action on May 2nd, 7pm at Good Shepherd Baptist Church so we can stand together against injustice.

RISC 90 Second Story – Richmond Schools

A RISC 90 Second Story is the RISC “elevator speech” about RISC’s efforts on a specific research issue. This week the 90 Second Story is about the Reading to Grade level efforts with Richmond Public Schools. Next week’s 90 Second Story will be about the Child Trauma training efforts with Chesterfield Public Schools. The following week the 90 Second Story will be about what RISC is doing on the Eviction crisis in Richmond.

RPS – Reading to Grade Level

Introduction: Through RISC, we address serious problems in our community and overcome our region’s historic divisions by joining with 21 diverse congregations.

The Problem: There are over 10,000 students in Richmond Public Schools who are not reading at grade level.  This is 42%!

The Solution: Through research and conversations with experts, we identified a program called Reading Mastery with proven success in getting kids to read.

The Obstacles: There has been a mindset from school officials that students come to school unprepared to learn, which they do not see as their problem. Another obstacle can be the concern among principals and teachers of implementing a new curriculum.

The Hero: Since 2014, RISC has been working to get HCPS and RPS to pilot Reading Mastery in just one school. We believe every child can learn given the appropriate resources and support.  Heroes include the RPS students that are now beginning the process of learning to read to grade level.

The Resolution: RPS has piloted Reading Mastery in eight schools and seems committed to learning from the experiences of Baltimore and other school systems that have had success with Reading Mastery. Together, with the power of over 1,000 people, on May 2 we will once again gather this year to be sure that the RPS implementation has adequate fidelity and support.

Conclusion: I’m part of RISC, because RISC gets things done.  RISC demands justice, and we are stronger when we join together to make a difference. Each of us helps win these victories by bringing 3 or more people to the Action on May 2 and showing up at research meetings and events so we can stand together against injustice.  That’s why each of our commitments are so important.