A Bus Shelter That Signals Change

SPEAKER_01 0:00

One of our more flagship projects is actually the Kroger Lombardi Bus Shelter. If you're from Richmond, you know to Kroger Lombardi. And we're a city that believes in public transit. Shout out to our great partners at GRTC. And when you're able to make improvements like this, you invite people to actually use your public transit more.

America’s Healthiest City Mission

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Hello and welcome to America's Healthiest City. I'm your host, Will Melton, and this is the channel RVA production. Today I have Miles Hopkins, a communication specialist with the city of Richmond, and we are going to talk about the Richmond people's budget, amongst many other topics. I think Batman might get in there somehow. But if you are new to America's Healthiest City, uh please check out America's HealthiestCity.com to check out our ideas board. It's a place where you can leave ideas big and small on ways that Richmond can become the healthiest city in America by 2033. We are doing a community grassroots initiative to make this happen. We need folks in the nonprofit world, the business world, the academic world, and the government world to come together along with citizens to drive us in a direction all at the same time so that we can achieve this goal. Everybody has a part to play in this, so go take a look at the Ideas Board to see how you can get involved. And if you represent one of those four institutions that need to play a big role in this effort, please learn what it takes to become an ambassador. It's totally free. It's all on the website. And without further ado, Miles, thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

He's got a great voice for radio, right? And really good, succinct intros.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Thanks for having me. You do you do a hundred of these things and you kind of you get used to it. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

We see and it doesn't feel robotic, so shout out to this guy. Yeah. But yeah, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

It's because I'm not reading the teleprompter. Oh, yep. Yep. Uh well, um, as a fellow communicator myself, I think we'll have a lot of fun on today's conversation. But I start out this uh podcast every time the same way, super

Miles’ Richmond Roots And Why Stay

SPEAKER_02 1:46

simple. Are you from Richmond? And if not, what brought you here?

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Born and raised uh and educated. I started adding that on because then people would ask where I went to school. So born, raised, and educated. Um, and so what brought me here was uh my folks. Um so yeah, been here. I think I was born in might have been born at MCV. Yeah, I think I was born in MCV or one of the surrounding hospitals. So super local. So you didn't have a choice? No, no, I didn't have a choice, but you're still here, yes, by choice. You're still here by choice. You're still here by choice. Why? Um, one of the things that keeps me in the city is I am deeply rooted in doing uh community-based work here. Uh, and I have a family that's pretty active here that I like hanging out with. So I have two brothers. Um, I'm a middle child. My older and younger brother are still active here in Richmond, so I like spending a lot of time with them. Um, and then back to the whole community-based work thing, uh, I find that some of the most impactful work that I've been given an opportunity to do has been rooted here in Richmond. So it's kept me here.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

So uh community work. Uh and one of the things that motivated this whole effort was um I was in leadership Metro Richmond back in 2020, and I felt like I was drinking from a fire hose, learning about the poverty rate in the city and a lot of the systemic issues that have been that way for a long time. And uh, but I was also taught that there are people who are working hard to solve problems, and I was taught that um that I can get involved too. And so I sat for, you know, post-pandemic for about three years trying to figure out what I was gonna do, head down, working on the business, making sure that stayed good. And then, you know, it was like, okay, I gotta do something. There's gotta be something I can do. So America's Healthiest City was never meant to be a communication, it was a communications platform. It was never gonna be a podcast or a radio show. It was just gonna be an ideas board and kind of this place that we could all, you know, talk about it. And um, you know, I think that the reality of it for me is my experience is rooted in community work. And there's something about there's a big difference between being involved in community and just living in a city. Uh and I I just lived in the city for like the first three years that I lived here. It wasn't until I got involved in LMR that I actually felt more connected. And it wasn't until I started actually doing the work three years later that I actually felt like, oh, wait, this place is special. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Um, very interesting.

Community Work Versus Just Living Here

SPEAKER_01 4:08

I mean, I did not know that part about your history here uh because of how active you are on the scene. I couldn't gauge how long you had been here. But um, yeah, I definitely would agree that there is a huge difference between being in community and doing community work. The word community is thrown around so much and it's so loose, but the way that I really kind of define it in my own work is like anything that is the bottom line is not like for profit and it's not for institution. It is for community to uh be better together. Um, and so yeah, I've been parts of many different communities here, from like skateboarding to mutual aid to music, um, and and always trying to find ways to strengthen the social fabric so that everybody that is involved really feels connected to the activities that are happening, and and there's a sharing of values, and then the work just comes naturally, whether it's like skateboarding with someone, making music with someone, doing a podcast with someone.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Yeah, yeah. Well, um, I see that uh you also have tattoos, so you're living up to the promise of the second most tattooed city in America. Absolutely. Um I think I saw a post on social media the other day that said if you don't have tattoos and you live in Richmond, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 5:21

I don't have tattoos, I'm one of those guilty ones. No, it's cool. I saw neither one of my brothers that I previously mentioned have tattoos, and and I was just joking with them previously. Like, we're getting older now. So I was like, Yeah, man, once you hit like 30 with no tattoos, it's cool. Like you've already been young and sexy. Don't need to be, you don't need to go back. No, and I mean you're you're youthful, so it's not a matter of you've aged out of that demographic, but it is a matter of like, you know, what are you what are you you you could decorate your body, but it better mean something now. Like I got one, two, three right there. A lot of people are like, what does that mean? It's actually my father's birthday, so you know, but you you can you can really only get stupid tattoos when you're young. So if you do it when you're grown, it better have some meaning, you know.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

Well, uh tell us a little bit about how you got to the city because um I think that you mentioned a lot of things from skateboarding to music, and

How A Skeptic Joins City Hall

SPEAKER_02 6:08

I missed a couple, but you know, like what what what led you to where you're at today?

SPEAKER_01 6:11

So uh good question. And I never considered myself to be a government employee. I actually was a healthy skeptic for a great part of my life, my father being um from Richmond. Um we're a multi-generational Richmond family. So my father being here experiencing things like the uh highway displacement um and a variety of other things that I just won't even start to touch on. Um he had positioned me just through his raising of my brothers and I um to not really trust institutions. And so the work that I was doing with nonprofits and mutual aid organizations um was not in spite of institutions, but when an opportunity arose where I was like asked by someone that was working with the city as a consultant to help out with the Richmond people's budget, which was such a radically new program. I had never heard of it before. Um, of course, it's new, so it's not like I could have heard of it before to here to the city, but um, that was literally it. It had to be something that was all values driven. It really wasn't about, well, one, I did want insurance. I think everybody should have insurance um after you age off your parents or whatever. So that was that was a factor. But um, it wasn't really a fiscal decision. It was more so of like, where can I invest my time? To your previous point, I have been working uh with many different orgs and institutions in varying capacities, and I felt like the work was advancing these initiatives, but this felt a little bit more like a sustained pathway where I could dedicate some time there and be pulled in a few less directions. Because when you're out here just freelancing and doing contract work, um, you will work on things, and I'm sure you can relate to this, you'll work on things for a long time, but having dedicated focus, like time and focus are are different, right? And so I worked on many initiatives for a long time, but um, did they have all of my focus? Not really, until I had taken on working at the city of Richmond for the Richmond People's Budget.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

So um you could say a lot of things to answer this question, but uh we'll talk about the people's budget in the next segment. But

Seeing Government From The Inside

SPEAKER_02 8:17

what's it like working for the city? Uh have you uh felt like you're a skep healthy skeptic, you said. I know yeah, now you're on the inside.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Um it feels like being able to realize, like peel back the layers and and see the cogs in the machine. And government, just like any institution, is just a bunch of people. And until you get there and know the people that are working, you won't really be able to appreciate the um challenges, the effort, and the values driving the work that you see uh the city doing. Um, so I guess to put it succinctly, it's been an eye-opening experience. I am deeply motivated to continue to do this work. Um, but I acknowledge that it is way different than what I thought it was from the outside.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Well, um I don't know that you could pay me enough to to work for anybody else, let alone the government. But um it it's you know, this city doesn't work without folks like yourself. So um, you know, kudos to you for taking up the mantle and and and being the healthy skeptic who who crossed the threshold. I think you have the ability to make an impact. Uh, you know, being that healthy skeptic and and observing the cogs and machine and finding those efficiencies that we know exist and can be seen.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Absolutely, man. Um, and there's so many other people too that to be honest with you, just like any institution, I think when you come in, you have this sharpness about you. Um that's just what you've developed and adapted from all of your previous lived experiences. And you can be conditioned by the big machine to um kind of be reformed in a way. And that's one of the things that I try to maintain in my work at the city is being a bit of an agitator and pushing back for those things that I do believe in because I think it's appropriate, right? And that's that's how you actualize that change that you were mentioning. It's not just by going in there and adopting the same mindset that we've always had. It's about going in there and asking that question. Actually, a few people in the city have this board up in their their offices that says, um, but we've always done it this way. That's like a cardinal sin, is to say that. It's like, but we've always done it this way. It's like that's the problem.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

So the people that have that sign up, are those people advocating for we've always done it this way? Are they making fun of it? No, they're making fun of it.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

They won't well in a in a playful way, right? Um, in jest, we can say like if that's your response to something, then you probably need to change it.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Well, kudos to you for using your presence as a platform is something I advocate for heavily. I think everybody should do it. Um, the fear that comes along with being, you know, trying to be quiet or whatever, it's not doing anybody any favors. Exactly. You've got a great leader too. So um, you know, uh ruffle some feathers now while uh folks who actually want to see change happen, then pay attention.

Richmond Water Refill Stations Map

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Yeah. Well, uh, we're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, we'll actually talk about the people's budget and uh all the wonderful things that are happening there. And you might find out who Batman is.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

So you've probably figured out by now that Richmond Water is on Westbroad Street. But where the heck else is it? You can find us online. We're at drinkrichmondwater.com, and there's lots of ways to engage with our website here. But if you come all the way down the bottom, that's where you will find the map. Free refill stations across the city. Just open this Google map that we have here that you can submit to at any time. And you'll find these pink dots are the Richmond Water refill stations, of course, uh Broad Street, and then over at City Stadium. And then all of the little blue dots are other places that have water refill stations where you can get free water across Richmond City. Join us in making free water more accessible on drinkrichmondwater.com.

What The Richmond People’s Budget Is

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Welcome back to America's Healthiest City. I am your host, Will Melton, and we are at Westbroad Studios today, recording for Channel RVA. If you're not familiar with Channel RVA, please visit channelrva.com. It is Richmond's newest independent media hub, probably the only independent media hub in the city. Uh, we are making space for independent creators to have a home, to collaborate, to have resources, to have access to advertisers and to build alongside other creators here in Richmond. We are cooking up a lot, so please follow us on IG, LinkedIn. Uh, we'll probably get a TikTok here pretty soon, but that's uh not there yet. And um, find out a little bit more about what we're doing. America's Healthiest City is just one original program within a group of many, and we're always adding to the list. So if you are a creator in the region and you're looking for a home, if you're looking for a place to collaborate, if you're looking to create a show for the very first time, come talk to us. Uh learn more at channelrva.com. Today we're in the studio with Miles Hopkins, a communications specialist with the city of Richmond, and we are going to get into the Richmond People's Budget. If you're not familiar with that, Miles, tell us all about the Richmond People's Budget.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Okay, awesome. I've been practicing this. Um, so the People's Budget is a democratic process and a direct democracy process, meaning that each person that participates represents themselves. There is no representative power. Um, this process allows for cities to invite their community to propose, deliberate, vote on ideas for improvements. These improvements here in the city of Richmond are capital improvements and typically rather small. Um, so not your traditional capital uh project. So things along the lines of traffic calming solutions, uh community center improvements, um, anything that you can kick it on public property, we can fund it aside from the schools. They they do have their own budget. But yeah, that's that's the people's budget.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

So um tell us a little bit about the process. So we have uh city council voted what two years ago, three years ago to enact the people's budget. We had to have a state legislature change to make it happen to begin with, too, or is that not the truth? You do not know.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Um, so I believe we do have one, I don't think it was explicitly we're a Dylan rule state, and so the city only has the powers that the state grants it. However, the way that the city decides to spend its municipal budget, I do believe they have pretty much full autonomy over. Um in 2019, a resolution was passed. Um, I think that charge was led by a mutual friend of ours, Andreas Addison. Um, that was it's 2026 now. So that was seven years ago. Is this our second budget cycle with it or is this our first? This is our first budget cycle with it. Um, we went through the hurdles of establishing a commission, which is staffed completely by residents of the city. Um, and that is the steering commission that determines kind of um the values that are going to design the process. And so one of the things that's very unique to Richmond um is that we distributed funds through an equity lens. Um, this means that because we have these nine different districts throughout the city, we decided to allot these um budgets to the districts based on their social vulnerability, the history of these uh districts, and the current makeup of them. So yeah, that's um I think that kind of answers your question and then gave another answer you hadn't actually.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

No, it's okay. Um, so every district gets to decide for their district how those dollars are spent. And it's a democratic process as well. Um, those um citizens who decide to vote, uh, is that all done online?

SPEAKER_01 15:44

No, it's done online and in person. PB is run a little bit differently in a few other cities. Um, we had the pleasure of visiting and doing a learning exchange with New York City as well as uh Durham, North Carolina. New York City actually processes over 100,000 votes, and a majority of them are done in person, which is crazy because, like, what? And they use a Scantron ballot. That's the only way they can actually count all of those ballots because that's crazy. These are like real electoral numbers. Um, and then Durham, North Carolina, actually has a great bit of success doing online outreach. And so I believe 60 to 70 percent of their votes, which is 17,000, equating to I believe 7% of the city's population um engaging with the program. But they do it kind of again, more digital. New York doing more paper. We're sitting somewhere in between um for our first cycle. We had about 60% of our voters participate online.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

So,

Equity Funding And How Voting Works

SPEAKER_02 16:40

how much money is it?

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Three million dollars in capital improvement projects. Um, and so that means out of the nine districts, we took the three million and divided it, and we did again an equity distribution, as we had mentioned. Um, and so the lowest district had 250,000 and the highest was 500,000. And the 500,000 being those deprived of critical investments and infrastructure. And that's just through the history. It doesn't speak to like any specific administration, but it just speaks to the history of these areas and and how they aren't as um well positioned as some of the other parts of the city. Is money flowing out into these projects already? Money is flowing out. I'm here um happy to tell you that money is flowing out as of recording this podcast. I believe we have at least uh seven out of the 33 projects that were outcomes from the first cycle, they are completed fully. Um, so that's about 21, 22 percent. Um, most notably, or one of our more flagship projects is actually the Kroger Lombardi bus shelter, and that's heading northbound. Um, that is if you're from Richmond, you know to Kroger Lombardy. That is a um it's a cool spot. I think some people are crazy. Some people are like it's called the murderer.

Projects Delivered And The Kroger Shelter

SPEAKER_01 17:59

You can't you can't paper over that, man. Nobody gets murdered over there, but but it's right outside Northside, it's right, you know, behind that Kroger's time. I walk to that Kroger on a very regular day. Right. Yeah, I think I see you walking your dog sometimes. Um, so yeah, dude, it's it's a it's a pretty popping Kroger. And so I see people getting drenched out there waiting in the rain. Exactly, exactly. And we're a city that believes in public transit. Shout out to our great partners at GRTC. And when you're able to make improvements like this, you invite people to actually use your public transit more. Nobody wants to go and get two big bags of groceries knowing that it's going to be inclement weather and then just stand out there, get rained on, get the groceries rained on. So again, improvements like this just make it easier for people to um use public transit. It probably puts us one step closer to the healthiest city in America, if you look at it through that standpoint. Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Well, what about uh the the total for this year? Did we actually allocate 100% of what was available?

SPEAKER_01 18:56

It was 278,000 because there is some level of um knapsack voting happening. It's really ranked voting, and then the way, so I'm I'm trying to let's let's put this in layman's terms, fifth grade language, right? Um, if I give you two hundred thousand dollars to spend on projects, you can only fund what there's consensus to fund until you reach the cap of that two hundred thousand. So what that looks like is if a district has elected to like everyone in the district voted, and they want these three projects that actually can be um afforded with their budget, whatever the remainder is, there might not be enough to fund so that stays in does that get allocated to that district the second year, or it's like padding. Okay, it's like padding for the actual projects, and and a good reason for that being especially when projects take longer than anticipated, everything can run over budget because these things are often requiring some type of procurement, and there was the macro economy was evolving, price fluctuations when we had selected the bus shelters as an outcome, and when they were actually slated for construction, there was such a lag that I do believe even the price of those pre-fab bus shelters probably had moved, right? And so even though you set that money aside, you can't tell the the vendor, like, hey, I thought I was gonna buy it for this much. So yeah.

Future Cycles And How To Support

SPEAKER_02 20:25

So what's next? So we have we'll have this money will get flowed out. So the projects have been selected. We have another year.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Do we have another people's budget? Fingers crossed. So we will all officially know after the next year, 2027, since this budget's been adopted, once we get to the 2028 budget process, which is next spring. Um, once that budget is adopted, that's when we will officially know um where the people's budget stands in terms of funding. But we do appear to be good for another cycle.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

Yeah, support from city councillors and the mayor's office, and everybody's good with this.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

There is plenty of good energy around it. Um that's that's what I can give you today.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

Well, we have we we can make sure that uh if you're a citizen and you believe in the people people's budget, make sure that you let your city council person know. Uh if you're a city counselor who hasn't been on my show, come in and talk with me and uh we'll find out what you think about the people's budget. Uh the seat's kind of hot. No, no, um, I I don't want to put you on the spot. I know that you're doing good work, and I know that your colleagues are also doing good work. So um, but but we want everybody running the same direction. So uh that's what our responsibility

Richmond’s Next Decade Of Growth

SPEAKER_02 21:35

is. Uh we're gonna take another quick break and I want to talk about the future of Richmond, which you have a little insight into. So uh we'll be right back.

unknown 21:41

Cool.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

If you want to own the internet in your domain on search and in AI search, you need the team that wrote the playbook on how to land on top. At Exponent 21, we help businesses dominate search rankings, drive traffic, and convert visitors into loyal customers. In the world of AI, it pays to Number one. You are number one. Make sure the world knows it. Go to exponent21.com and get a free multi-page SEO report when you mention America's Healthiest City. Hello and welcome back to America's Healthiest City on Channel RVA. We are recording from Westbroad Studios in the Arts District, downtown Richmond. And I have Miles Hopkins, communication specialist for the city of Richmond here in the studio. We're talking about the people's budget. And this is uh a piece of the budget that you get to decide how it's spent. That decision has already been made, and projects are already slated, and money is moving. And uh now I want to spend a little bit of time uh with you, Miles, talking about uh the future of Richmond. And and this is subjective, obviously. Everybody gets to look at the cranes in the skies and and you get to see the list of projects that were approved. And so uh tell me what do you think? What's the biggest prospect for Richmond right now that you you think is happening? Oh man. Um just one you like. I mean, maybe not.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Yeah, one that I like. No, no, no. I I respect it. I respect it. Um unrelated. Well, this is related to your question. I I think there's gonna be a huge uptick in like rooftop bars and rooftop um lounge areas in in the future. And I think that's gonna be cool. People are gonna like hanging out, getting beautiful views of our skyline and the and the river um and other parts of the city. So that's one thing that I'm looking forward to from a larger development standpoint. I think that we are at a place where the city of Richmond has to define how we want to address the rising population. Um, what does it look like for people to come here and enjoy the best parts of Richmond? What does it mean for the people that are already here? What do they deserve as long-term Richmonders and in regards to like aging in place and things of that nature? Um, and so that's something that I know a lot of people are, uh especially amongst amidst the uh code refresh conversations. That's something that a lot of people are keeping a very close eye on. And it's something that I don't have all the answers to. I don't think anyone has all the answers to, but I am excited to see how we rise to the occasion and uh answer this call for like figuring out what the future of Richmond looks like for the people that are not here yet, while maintaining the best parts of Richmond for the people that already are here.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

I I think you you said something that stuck with me, and that's rise to the occasion. I think you know, we've got a limited footprint, we're probably gonna have to build up. And we already are. You look at Scott's Edition, look at the cranes, we've got a lot cooking. A lot cooking. Well, um it's all great stuff. I think, you know, I I think about Scott's Edition a lot, and uh I was I go to Andreas Addison's gym, Pure Fitness, and I was running with one of my partners who's a planner, and we're talking about you know just the future of Scott's Edition, you know, and thinking that Andreas' gym one day will be a high rise. And it's like, wait a second, that's actually probably gonna happen because that's a one-story building, and it's not the best use of that that real estate there. So just uh even just thinking about the place that I go to the gym every day and how that's gonna change is fascinating. Right. Yeah, yeah. Well, there's a here's a question for you. This you might not have ever thought about this before, but at some point in the next 10 years, we're gonna have a train that runs from DC to Richmond and it's gonna take 30 minutes. And I'm I'm sitting here wondering, like, how are we gonna address that population boom that's gonna happen? Because we already know we have a lot of people coming down from DC. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

That's a good one. That's a good one. Is that gonna be like a lightning rail?

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Like 30 minutes. I haven't my memory is not always the best, so I can't remember how they make it. But but some kind of high speed rail in 30 minutes. I mean, we need it to alleviate congestion on 95, but right I don't know how much we want to make Richmond that accessible to all those DC heads.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

I don't know. That's an interesting one. I think in 10 years, I've been told by people that are, you know, much more knowledgeable and like the actual definition of uh municipal governments and stuff. Richmond is just now getting out of its township. And I'm gonna say it one more time. Richmond is just now getting out of its township status, right? However that's defined. And so if you've been here in Richmond, it's very easy to have the illusion of, like, no, it's a city by the actual metrics and definition. I do believe it's just now getting to that point. It hasn't always been a city. Also, if you know the history of Richmond, we were actually more populated years ago. We are reaching those levels again for the first time since they happened, right? And so, all of that being said, Richmond is not uh a true metropolitan city. I don't think in 10 years we'll be looking at a true metropolitan city, but uh, it will be interesting to see how we've adapted um due to like development as well as like the changing demographics. I don't think Richmond wants to be a mini DC. I think we want to be something a little bit closer to like a rale, because we are the South. We really are. When you go to DC, um, it does not feel like the South.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

We've lived here for a long time, so you've actually gotten to see a lot of change. You talk to Odie Donald, and he'll say that there are people that live in other cities that want to be uh the next Richmond.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that's a good one. And I've never, yeah, yeah. I typically don't look at it from that lens. Um, but yeah, Richmond is we've got a lot of uh we had a lot of great industry that is shifted, and we do still have industry here, but um our business district is is rather contained, right? You know, and we also have no nightlife district. Um, not advocating, not right. I was about to say I'm not advocating for one and I'm not shutting it down, but I'm just saying we don't have like a true um nightlife district. I think it's gonna come just downtown, right? Right, yeah, yeah. And I'm gonna be bumping. It's gonna take a while to build, but it's gonna be bumping. Right. I think everyone naturally kind of wants to assign that to Shaco because they house a lot of these um late night entertainment spots um in in like a consolidated area. There's plenty throughout the city, but but they're in Shaco. It's like, you know, consolidated.

SPEAKER_02 28:13

Everyone's I think there's two different nightlifes too. There's like the there's like the gray street nightlife, yeah. You know, this is like pre-party hour. And then there's the the nightlife, the young people call nightlife. We can get two different factions of folks. Oh no, you're getting older too, so absolutely.

Mutual Aid As A Health Strategy

SPEAKER_02 28:29

I'm curious what is something that we can add to the ideas board that other people might look at and say, I could do that to to contribute to making Richmond uh the healthiest city in America by 2033.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Wow. Let me chill on this for just a second. Um and I want to ask a clarifying question. I'm not going to skirt around it. A clarifying question. Are we defining health as social determinants? Okay. All right. You got a broad landscape to work. Yes, as broad as possible. Awesome. Mutual aid, an idea that you can put on the idea board would be tasking people with finding a mutual aid group that they are already well positioned to contribute to. I have a deep affinity for RVA community fridges. Uh, that's part of how I got started doing this type of work, or one of the first people that I that really activated my mindset and we really hit it off and and got some great stuff done because they were already doing great stuff without me. But um I remember RVA Community Fridges, the first time I spoke to the founder, Taylor. Um, she makes it a point to let people know that this is not nonprofit charity work. This is mutual aid work, which gives another level of ownership to community because it's people helping people. There is no institution that's the arbiter of what the help looks like. It is people helping people, you know, um on their own volition and at whatever capacity they can, without the involvement of an institution, without the tax incentivization of whatever. Like it's just people helping people. So I would ask everybody, you know, go find a mutual aid organization. There's plenty of good groups doing great work. Facebook's an awesome place to start. Reddit's another great place to start. You can find groups of people that just have issues that they are so deeply passionate about that they are taking it into their hands to try to solve this issue for anybody they can get their hands on. And they are almost always open to everybody coming and contributing. In fact, I've yet to find a person that's like, oh, I do mutual aid, and no, I don't want your help. It's just people helping people.

Who To Follow Next And Wrap

SPEAKER_02 30:33

So um, you're gonna have to help me out because I've been trying to get Taylor Scott on this program for years now, and I know she's a busy lady. Yeah. Um, but I'd love to tell her story. Uh, and then on that note, um, we ask all of our guests to tell us uh who's somebody else that we should be interviewing who's making a difference in Richmond, whose story might inspire somebody else to get involved.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Someone uh that is like a mutual friend of mine, Troy Hughes. Uh, he's a young brother out here, and he is doing these workout sessions and Southside, and it's just inviting people to come out and get active. You know, you can bring your family, you can come out alone. It's another way to like um be in community, right? Also gets us closer to the healthiest city in America. Um, but Troy has such a great energy about him, and he connects with people at a very authentic level. Like um, yeah, if you yeah, if you check out his content, it's it's very raw because it's him. And so if you resonate with it, then you feel at home watching it and you're like, oh no, I kind of relate to to this guy, and I I think I could come out and and benefit from being in this type of community. So yeah, shout out to my guy Troy.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

I'm glad you said that because I've actually I followed Troy. Uh he's not just a fitness guy, he's he's a man of many talents. He's a coach, he's he's an entrepreneur. Um so I'd love to talk to him. So if you can help me out with that, that'd be great too. Yeah, um, we'll we'll post this clip so he knows how much we want to get him on the show. Uh, we don't let anybody off the hook around here, but um Miles Hopkins, uh yeah, communications specialist for the city of Richmond. Uh, congrats on your work with the people's budget and uh everything you've done. Um, a lot more to talk about, but we'll wrap it up here and we'll have you come back whenever some of these projects are actually installed. We'll go out and get some b-roll. Actually, the good question. Are there any projects that are done that we can actually capture uh for this episode?

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Gotcha. I'll do you want better. No, I'm just kidding. Um, but yes, again, seven out of the 33 are completely constructed and ready for use and currently being used. If you go to rvapb.org on the home page, there is a project tracker that will let you know the current status of all 33 projects and anything that is marked as completed, you can go and enjoy it yourself. Um we do not have like specific locations on all of these things because, for example, trees planted throughout the third district. There are so many. Shout out to our urban forestry team. Um, so you're just gonna have to find a new tree.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

Well, Miles, thanks for joining me today. This is a great conversation. Uh look forward to seeing you again.

SPEAKER_01 33:01

Awesome. Thank you, Will. Yeah, this guy's great.

SPEAKER_02 33:05

This was America's Healthiest City on Channel RVA. Thank you so much for joining me. Please visit America's HealthiestCity.com to learn how you can get involved. And also check out uh channelrva.com and subscribe over there for the daily digest. You'll get invited to our first Friday block party uh every month, and you'll get access to lots of other really cool stuff that we're packing in there to get you closer to Richmond. Uh, and this is just one of them. So uh thank you for joining me. We'll catch you next time.