Richmond Residents Speak Out For Access & Inclusion UC/LBNL’s Richmond Bay Campus

RICHMOND, Calif. - May 8, 2014 - PRLog -- On Thursday, May 8, 2014 at 6:30 pm at Miracle Temple, 2425 Cutting Boulevard, Richmond, CA, a coalition of Richmond community-based organizations and residents will hold a Town Hall forum with UC Berkeley representatives, elected officials and other stakeholders to give a collective community response to the expansion of the Richmond Bay Campus (RBC). The RBC is a modern research and development campus that will host 10,000 students, faculty and staff when fully developed as a second campus for UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The public forum is a chance for the multi-ethnic, multi-generational interfaith coalition to give presentations and personal testimonies about the future benefits and challenges that the planned campus represents to their communities, with the goal of ensuring that the best possible future economic and educational impact for the entire region is integrated into the UC’s planned development.

Thursday’s Town Hall is an organized community response in anticipation of the UC Regents meeting on May 15 to vote on the RBC’s Long Term Development Plan. "We see this as a potential engine of opportunity akin to the Richmond shipyards of World War II, but there must be policies in place so that the impact is inclusive", states Tia Josie, a Richmond resident helping organize the forum. The attached infographic, Community Opportunity and the Richmond Bay Campus, synthesizes the community vision, the challenges faced, and the solutions being proposed. This will be the final convening in a series of meetings that have been organized over the last several months by the Richmond coalition of groups led by CCISCO, a federation of 25 congregations and youth institutions representing over 35,000 families in Contra Costa County, and ACCE, a community-based organization representing thousands of Richmond residents.

Over the past year, this coalition of invested community members have been active participants in UC Berkeley’s Richmond Bay Campus Partnership meetings as well as their own weekly meetings held to discuss the RBC’s potential impact on their community. The outcome of the past year’s discussions have resulted in the negotiation of a Joint Statement of Commitment (http://richmondbaycampus.lbl.gov/assets/docs2/raw/Joint%2...) from UC Berkeley and LBNL, which the University publicly released on April 22.

The Richmond Bay Campus may be the most important economic development to come to Richmond since the shipyards were built during World War II, so the benefits to residents could be profound. UC Berkeley and Lawrence Labs describe the development of the campus “as a transformative, once-in-a-lifetime event for the East Bay” and Richmond residents want to ensure that these plans allow the highest level of “access and inclusion” for the residents in every beneficial area from workforce development to education.

The Richmond Town Hall meeting participants have four areas they desire to see the University contribute to the welfare of the local region during this expansion: (1) improve local educational opportunities and teacher training; (2) targeted hiring and training for local and disadvantaged workers; (3) the nurturing of small business and commercial development focusing on the goods and services needed for the primary science and functions of UC and LBNL; and (4) support for low income renters to prevent displacement in neighboring communities.

The Outcome of Town Hall
During Thursday night’s meeting, more than 200 residents will present these proposals to representatives of UC Berkeley,  LBNL, and elected officials that address these four identified areas.  It is the residents’ desire that at the end of this Town Hall discussion that UC, LBNL and elected officials will make firm commitments to work with the community to develop legally binding agreements that address the four priorities.

About CCISCO
CCISCO is a member of the PICO National Network and PICO California.  The organization believes that all faith communities are called to seek justice and peace for all people. CCISCO answers this call by empowering people to transform their communities. CCISCO is a unique community organization in the region that is successfully building bridges across boundaries of faith, race, geography, generation and economic class. We believe in building unity through diversity.  Since 1996, CCISCO has been an organizing voice for justice and equity in Contra Costa County. The organization is a multi-ethnic, multi-generational, interfaith federation of 25 congregations and youth institutions representing over 35,000 families.  CCISCO provides leadership training through our member institutions that help channel their power and ability to effect change in their local communities and put their faith into action.

About ACCE
The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) is a multi-racial, democratic, non-profit community organization building power in low to moderate income neighborhoods to stand and fight for social, economic and racial justice. ACCE has chapters in eleven counties across the State of California.