The Racial Equity & Environmental Justice Roundtable is a group of 12 Richmond residents, with at least one representing each City Council District, who are paid for their time and lived experience expertise, with the following roles:

• Help the City center equity in the planning process and elevate frontline community voices
• Inform and guide planning process and provide recommendations for RVAgreen 2050
• Serve as liaisons to ensure community needs and assets are integrated into planning process

The Roundtable will help us reach communities on the frontlines of climate change - those who are hit first and worst by the impacts of environmental injustice and the climate crisis. These communities confront many vulnerabilities, including racism, poverty, housing insecurity, and more, which intensify climate threats. These communities are also underrepresented in City of Richmond planning processes for many reasons, which may include: 1) traditional meetings conflict with work or home schedules, 2) the policy and planning processes sometimes use technical language that is difficult to understand – regardless of educational or income level, or 3) people feel burnout from participating in past efforts that have sometimes seen limited results from the efforts. In Richmond, these individuals are typically those who are lower- income, Hispanic and Latino, and/or Black and African-American.

Transparency: All meetings of the Roundtable are open to the public. Please contact Brianne Fisher for more information and to sign up to attend or speak at a Roundtable meeting.

Purpose: Five Working Groups will provide topical expertise on RVAgreen 2050 goals and strategies to the Racial Equity & Environmental Justice Roundtable. They will also assist with translating community priorities into equitable climate action and resilience strategies; identifying opportunities for community engagement and community capacity building; and building government accountability.

Composition: Five groups with at least eight members providing topical expertise on RVAgreen 2050 goals and strategies to the Roundtable. Among the members will be:

• Community Co-Chair: A resident of Richmond with topical expertise who will work with the other co-chair and coordinator to review meeting agendas, facilitate meetings, and report to the Roundtable 
• City Co-Chair: A City of Richmond staff member with topical expertise who will work with the other co-chair and coordinator to review meeting agendas, facilitate meetings, and report to the Roundtable
• At least one Roundtable member: A resident of Richmond who is also on the Roundtable who will lend their lived experience expertise and ideas to the Working Group
• Additional members: Residents of Richmond, people who work in Richmond, and additional City of Richmond staff members with topical expertise who will help develop equitable climate action and resilience strategies
• Coordinators: Office of Sustainability staff members who will manage group logistics including setting meeting agendas, taking notes, communications, and meeting facilitation along with the co-chairs 

Topics: The Working Groups are divided into 5 broad topic areas listed below. Additionally, there are cross-sectional topics, such as racial equity, engagement and communications, government accountability, community wealth, affordable housing, and health, that have representation across multiple topic areas. 

Transparency: All Working Group meetings are open to the public and meeting materials will be posted on this webpage. Office of Sustainability staff coordinators for each group are listed below - contact us for more information.

Community-wide engagement will occur throughout the RVAgreen 2050 planning process, with four specific periods as described below. In addition to these opportunities, members of the public are welcome to:

• Visit the Office of Sustainability during virtual "office hours"
• Sign up to be an RVAgreen 2050 Ambassador
• Email us with questions and input
• Attend Roundtable and Working Group meetings (click the tabs above)
• Sign up for email updates
• Check out the RVAgreen 2050 planning process website for more ways to get involved!