On Thursday, August 8th, multiple nonprofits policy, advocacy, civic engagement, and nonprofit leaders from across the region gathered at Red Bird Social in downtown Richmond for a special event hosted by Richmond Memorial Health Foundation (RMHF).
Entitled “State of the Legislature: Advancing Health and Racial Equity,” this convening of policy, advocacy, and civic engagement organizations was designed by RMHF, in collaboration with local, regional, and statewide partners, to gather, synthesize, and discuss ways to work both individually and collectively to advance critical legislation in the General Assembly.
Guided by our Strategic Framework, RMHF has increased our focus on civic engagement, public policy, and advocacy as a way to support the critical work of our partners who help advance health and racial equity across the Richmond region.
With that framework in mind and our mission at the forefront, this event was the perfect opportunity for RMHF and like-minded organizations to come together to reflect on the 2024 legislative session, exchange valuable insights, cultivate new perspectives, foster collaborative efforts that lead to meaningful progress, and ultimately identify actions we can take to drive change.
Gihan Perera, a Managing Partner at Portabella Advisors and Senior Fellow at the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity, served as the event’s keynote speaker and addressed this issue head on, making it clear what’s necessary to make progress.
“You can’t just be about ‘big ideas,’ you’ve got to be rooted in what matters to the people,” he said to the gathered attendees. “If I couldn’t support the community in building power to take risks, then all I had was an idea; nothing more.”
He went on to explain that it is essential for organizations to build with communities, not speak for them; to not take action on their behalf, but to identify the barriers that keep them from taking action.
Going beyond “big ideas” and digging deeper to determine what matters to Richmond region residents was at the center of the program.
There were two panel discussions and group conversations about the legislative landscape in Virginia and ways to identify both obstacles and opportunities; ways to pursue successful strategies and identify critical collaborations; how to uplift communities and the different ways we can work together with elected officials to advance our shared goals of health and racial equity.
One particular panel, hosted by RMHF’s Program and Strategy Officer Natisha Knight, shone a light on the complexity of the General Assembly Session, what goes into advocating for a wide variety of issues that relate to health and racial equity, and how the vast amount of bills, priorities, and policies can be daunting, and requires courage, focus and support of allies.
Acknowledging these realities, navigating the complexities of policymaking, and meeting different challenges with a willingness to learn from one another and grow collectively was what this event was all about.
As Dr. Keisha Cook said at the culmination of the event:
“There’s nothing we can’t accomplish when we come together with one focus and one voice.”