Out of disaster, beauty can emerge. RCF Connects, formerly known as the Richmond Community Foundation, was formed after an industrial accident released a cloud of sulfuric acid upon the city. Over two decades later, it’s fostering thriving, safe, and diverse communities in Richmond in the midst of another crisis.
“We wanted to try to build a community that people would want to stay in,” says Jim Becker, president and CEO of RCF Connects. The organization started as the Richmond Children’s Foundation when leftover funds from the accident settlement were reinvested in the area’s youth. They created several educational initiatives—including the now-independent Richmond College Prep, one of the state’s highest-performing schools—but, says Becker, “we realized that no matter how good the education system was, if we didn't change neighborhood conditions, people would leave.”
That’s when the Richmond Community Foundation was born, based on three pillars they still uphold today: coach, connect, and contribute. The coaching element involves providing business and life coaches to help community and nonprofit staff build their leadership skills, Becker explains, so they can work more effectively with other nonprofits and local government entities to solve problems that require cross-collaboration. “For those who become coaching clients, which we’ve offered for free during the pandemic, the next step is to think about their infrastructure,” Becker says, “and try to help them build capacity so they can move into that connecting phase.”
Connection has looked different amidst the COVID-19 crisis, but for those at RCF Connects, it also highlighted that systemic issues are at the root of nearer-term community problems. As a society, “we have policies, practices and procedures in place that make it hard for people to move up socioeconomically and in terms of their political power,” says Becker. “So we’re really looking at systems change, … and we contribute time, talent, and treasure to those projects and our community partners.” This includes looking for partners who are already effectively serving those most in need, he adds, “particularly those who are lifting up and serving communities of color.”
Their most successful projects run the gamut: from the charter school to a 9,000-square-foot coworking space and entrepreneurial center that’s part of a downtown economic recovery plan to successfully lobbying for Measure X: a voter-approved half-cent sales tax increase that is expected to bring up to $120 million into the county for social safety net programs. Becker is quick to note that these are joint efforts impossible without their partners. Still, the area where RCF Connects perhaps shines brightest through the darkness of crisis is in contribution.
“Most of the resources we've deployed over the years have been to organizations, and during COVID, that had to shift very quickly to be able to serve individuals,” Becker says, transforming the organization into a hub for helping locals. “We provided $250,000 in direct cash assistance for local families, [and] about $300,000 with our partners in rental assistance.” He also cites the SparkPoint initiative, a 19-agency collaborative hosted by RCF Connects, which provided free tax services to help locals safely collect their federal stimulus checks.
“Our other work didn’t stop, either,” Becker adds, though the pandemic put many pre-existing projects in a different light. One of these involves rebuilding abandoned homes and providing opportunities for first-time homebuyers to buy them on a non-competitive basis. “During COVID, people began to look at equity more clearly, … and realized that redlining was still prevalent,” Becker says. Working with partner Arlington Community Church, they “create[d] a fund for Black first-time homebuyers that provides up to $15,000 for per household [to help] cover their downpayment and closing costs.”
Contra Costa County even asked RCF Connects to manage their emergency rental assistance outreach. Through community grants to local partners with different language capabilities, Becker says, “everyone in the county can have access, in their own language, to apply for the state's Rental Assistance Program.”
Whether it’s a community foundation, government entity, small business, or local brewery, Becker says, the most important contribution an organization can make to their neighborhood is to practice what they preach.
“It's about what the company values, and how they support their employees to be part of that value system,” he says. “Volunteer at a food pantry as a team, [or] create space in your parking lot for a nonprofit doing a turkey donation drive for Thanksgiving. … There are lots of ways you can have an even greater impact as a company beyond just writing a check.”
What matters is living your values, even—and especially—when the going gets hard.
