Bagging groceries, flipping pizzas and sitting by the public pool as a lifeguard used to be the ultimate jobs for young people. But with funding from Kaiser Permanente, five motivated teenagers from Richmond’s Police Activities League (RPAL) will skip the chump change and start their own business.
On Saturday evening more than 30 Richmond residents concerned about the environment gathered at the home of Marci Valdivieso to watch a documentary about Wangari Maathai. Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist who started the Green Belt Movement that shed light on the importance of trees and soil conservation in 1977, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. She died last year due to complications from ovarian cancer. The event was organized by Richmond Trees, a small…
On Tuesday night at Richmond’s City Council meeting, upset residents and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, mostly dressed in purple t-shirts and yellow armbands, signed a unity pledge against hate speech and asked council members to do the same. The standing-room-only crowd also heard 65 people voice their concerns about homophobic comments they heard during the last public meeting.
On Friday evening, 13 Richmond residents gathered at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in North Richmond to spread the word about life without bullets. Armed with purple fliers, they exited the small church with a gentle gait and marched two-by-two towards the Las Deltas Housing Project, one of the city’s hot spots for gun violence. The purpose of the walk, also known as Richmond Ceasefire/Lifelines to Healing, was to meet people hanging out on their stoops and talk about the…
Talk about bang for your buck—14,000 square feet for a dollar a year ain’t bad. In terms of food production, that could mean a whole lot of apples, and whatever else will take root on the corner of 1st Street and Chanslor Avenue. The nearly half-acre lot sits just one block east of the Iron Triangle and used to be a popular spot for drug dealing and a dumping ground for trash. Now thanks to the daringness of one resident,…
On Saturday night a handful of Richmond and Bay Area residents gathered near the steps of the Civic Center Plaza for an overnight vigil to show concern about homelessness, what many in the group call a social justice and human right’s issue. Guest speakers gave inspirational speeches, and before it got too dark everyone shared a light meal and conversations of hope. When the cold wind and nightfall overtook them, 13 people sat in a circle, lit a candle and…
More than 130 fifth and sixth graders at Lincoln Elementary School in Richmond studied science on Tuesday. Okay, so what? This time their teachers didn’t wear white lab coats and talk about strange things underneath a microscope. Instead, Oakland A’s outfielder Josh Reddick and team mascot Stomper used a Louisville Slugger and chopped up baseballs to talk about the “Science of the Game.” The new scholastic workbooks sponsored by Chevron hopes to deepen Bay Area student’s interest in science by…
Poetry comes from the heart, and whether that heart is imprisoned by the mind or cold steely bars, what’s scribbled down on paper can make life-changing differences. That’s the message 19 young Richmond poets spoke about at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts Sunday afternoon.
Richmond High graduate Bernard Naquin, 19, won’t have to look too far to find a computer these days. The Contra Costa County teenager and Diablo Valley College student was awarded a brand new Dell laptop Monday morning at the Nevin Center. “I was surprised when they told me I was going to receive the computer,” Naquin said. “Out of everyone in the county, they chose me. I didn’t expect it.” The laptop didn’t just fall from the sky. The laptop…
On a clear day on can sit on a park bench at Knox-Miller Regional Shoreline and see right up to the front porch of San Francisco.
Sixty-six graduates of the RichmondBUILD Green Careers Academy were awarded certificates of completion Friday morning at their training facility on 23rd Street. The green academy trains residents in energy-efficient home construction, hybrid automotive technologies, solar installation and environmental literacy
Who puts ice in their socks? That’s exactly what Richmond Half-Stepper Robert Freeman, 7, did after completing a race at the Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympic Games at Tad Gormley Stadium in New Orleans, which ran from July 30 to August 6.
Looking out for your neighbor isn’t just about pushing aside a dusty curtain and peering across the street to see if everything is okay. For Richmond’s North and East neighborhood patrol, community safety means going outside their neighbor’s homes, hitting the pavement and talking to people.