Community Co-Design
Resident Demonstration Projects
The Building Power Fellowship (2019-2021) seeded the ground from which Richmond LAND has grown many of its projects – leveraging a collaborative, co-creative process with Richmond residents, community leaders, and neighborhood mobilizers. We help grow the power of homegrown residents through capacity building to engage and subvert conventional planning, real estate, and development practices to combat displacement and put forward equitable growth of our neighborhoods and built environment. The Fellowship included presentations from experts in the field, skill-building, power-mapping, and orientation to the field and practices of development. We prioritize “learning through doing” as the fellows build out viable project concepts and supporting arts, cultural and community engagement activities
Building Power supports a cohort of Richmond area residents to design, research and bring to life community development and housing project concepts that serve low-income residents of color. The cohort advances, clarifies, and envisions these projects through arts and cultural activities, and events that reflect low-income communities of color’s right to stay and live affordably in West Contra Costa County.
2019-2020 Building Power Fellows: Kapris James, Brandy Khansouvong, Alfonso Leon, Princess Robinson, Eduardo “Lalo” Martinez, Jenny Rougeau, Sary Tatpaporn.
2019-2020 Partner Organizations: Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Rich City Rides, Urban Tilth
Program Highlights:
The fellows advanced two viable project concepts rooted in the needs and vision of Richmond residents. The first is the North Richmond Eco Village concept designed to regenerate abandoned land and create sustainable housing for low-income North Richmond stewards. Learn more about how this project is progressing here:
The second project concept from the fellowship is an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) project conceptualized to stabilize and connect Laotian residents. The idea began by looking at how ADU development could help Prevent a Second Displacement of Richmond’s Laotian Community. Richmond LAND will continue to evolve the program by exploring the intersections of affordable housing development, community stabilization, wealth-building of long-term residents, and the strengthening of our communities cross-cultural legacy for the benefit of all Richmond communities. Our goal is to launch the program with one block in Richmond to develop 6-10 units at the same time. This helps anchor the existing community in place, and connects neighbors to each other and to the services that they need. The units will be low-cost rentals for community members in danger of displacement and struggling with housing costs. The project would benefit homeowners by creating a monthly income from the lease of their land. This helps keep the community intact and people close to each other and their resources. This helps keep the community intact and people close to each other and their resources. This project is in line with the city goals in the General Plan, Housing Element, and Health in All Policies to increase housing density, prevent future displacement and increase the health of the residents of the city overall.
The fellows also led several arts & cultural activities. Learn more about that here:
