RICHMOND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

On September 11, 2009, youth from our Youth Council brought youth from all over Richmond together to share in an event supporting "Peace in the City". Tired of always being portrayed in the media as violent thugs, youth from Richmond came together to plan an event showcasing the many talents of Richmond youth. Youth from all over Richmond auditioned for the event which featured dancers, singers, rappers, poets and many more performers.

“We are tired of the violence in our community and believe that by showing the world what Richmond youth can do, we send a positive message,” said one member of the youth council.

The youth set a number of goals for the event. They wanted other youth to join them to take a positive stand in the community, promote peace and justice, encourage creativity and expression, have a safe space to come together, and honor the amazing talents of Richmond youth.

Hundreds of children and community residents turned out to meet Oakland Raiders legend JIM OTTO and the Raiderettes as they present the Richmond Children’s Foundation and the City of Richmond with a check for $200,000 from the NFL Youth Football Fund Grassroots Program in partnership with Bay Area LISC. The program will provide the funding necessary to construct a brand new sports field at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park in Richmond. The field, abandoned for as long as community residents can remember, will be rebuilt, with the funds from the NFL used to install high grade synthetic sports turf.

“This new field is at the heart of the Nystrom United Revitalization Effort (NURVE),” stated Joan Davis, CEO of the Richmond Children’s Foundation. “The new park and field will serve hundreds of children and families in the neighborhood. The new sports field will link two adjacent schools and will serve as a centerpiece of the neighborhood,” Davis said.

Mark Torres, President of the Richmond Eagles Football team, said “Our children deserve a field of this caliber. I am so grateful to the Richmond Children’s Foundation, the Oakland Raiders, LISC and the NFL Foundation for making this possible.” The new field will now be able to accommodate nearly 50,000 player visits, a tremendous increase from its previous capacity of under 1,000 visits. It is one of 170 football fields built or renovated across the nation in the past decade with support from the NFL Foundation. In the last 11 years, the NFL Youth Football Fund has granted over $25 million to revitalize playing fields in underserved neighborhoods.

Established in 1998 by the NFL and the NFL Players Association, the NFL Youth Football Fund Grassroots Program seeks to use football as a catalyst to promote positive youth development. “These fields help us make an impact where assistance is most needed and provide a tangible sign of our Youth Football Fund in action,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who also serves on the LISC national board of directors.

Check out the press coverage below:

Produce pipeline running from farms to inner city

Fruits and vegetables are being trucked from Brentwood's farm fields to Richmond's urban center under a new initiative aimed at making it easier for Richmond residents, especially the poor, to get fresh produce instead of processed foods.

"It's easier to buy a bottle of beer than a fresh apple" in West Contra Costa, said county Supervisor John Gioia, who represents the area. "We want to change that."

The county's new Farm 2 Table program also creates a customer base for Brentwood farmers at a time when the economic downturn and other forces are pummeling the local agricultural industry. Brentwood farmers will truck seasonal produce 50 miles to EcoVillage, a 7-acre farm in Richmond, which will add its own crops and assemble boxes of produce for families to pick up at any of three sites.

Participants will pay $25 to receive a produce box twice a month. Five dollars of what they pay will subsidize boxes for low-income families, who will pay $5 to $15 per box depending on their annual income. The nonprofit Richmond Children's Foundation, which is partnering with LISC Americorp, is chipping in to help cover the cost of the subsidized boxes. LISC Americorp is a national collaborative group that works to revitalize communities.

Thirty nonsubsidized and 40 subsidized households receive boxes of food now after the program launched a test run in April, said Jim Becker, director of development at the Richmond Children's Foundation. The group hopes to have 100 nonsubsidized and 100 subsidized households on board this year.

The number of households Farm 2 Table eventually could reach is limitless, Gioia said.

"If we get more families paying market-rate, it helps subsidize more families who are not paying market-rate," he said.

The concept of residents bypassing supermarkets and buying produce directly from farms for pickup or delivery is far from new. But this is the first such effort in Contra Costa — and the first that allows low-income families to get subsidized food, Gioia said.

In East County, which boasts 12,000 acres of sprawling agricultural land, challenges from the recession to the globalization of agriculture are making it difficult for local farmers to survive, said Kathryn Lyddan of Brentwood Agricultural Land Trust and Supervisor Mary Piepho, who represents East County.

Three farmers are participating in Farm 2 Table, but Lyddan said she hopes that number will grow.

Supporters picked plums at Dwelley Farms in Brentwood on Thursday morning and helped pack boxes bound for Richmond. Owner Mark Dwelley, whose family has farmed in the area since the 1920s, said providing food for West County families through the program gives him a sense of pride.

"Growing stuff does," Dwelley said, "and that's an equal-opportunity thing. Everybody's got to eat."

In the afternoon, Tana Monteiro picked up a box of produce from the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Richmond and watched her son pluck a plum from the assortment of green beans, squash, asparagus, cherries and peaches. She pays $15 per box, which feeds her family of six for about a week and a half.

"You don't really know what you're going to get," said Monteiro, whose children tried roasted beets for the first time because the box contained fresh beets. "Normally, I just get salad and broccoli from the store. Now, we're more adventurous."

Staff writer Jonathan Lockett contributed to this report.