Richmond Progressive Alliance’s Lessons for Local Organizers
It doesn’t often make national headlines, but the city of Richmond, California, has been home to a successful progressive political reform project in recent years. Here are ten lessons for other municipal reformers from the Richmond Progressive Alliance.
Eduardo Martinez speaks during a press conference at a homeless encampment in Richmond, California, on September 15, 2022. (Jane Tyska / Digital First Media / East Bay Times via Getty Images)
On a Saturday evening last spring, Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) cochair Claudia Jimenez hosted a high-spirited rally and party with two hundred supporters of her reelection campaign for the Richmond City Council. Jimenez is a forty-six-year-old immigrant from Colombia, who worked as an architect and community organizer before seeking elected office four years ago in her diverse, blue-collar city of 114,000, which is 80 percent non-white.
On the seven-member council, which includes an RPA majority, she has immersed herself in municipal finance questions, public safety issues, and the long-standing challenge of making Chevron, the city’s largest employer, more responsive to community concerns about its environmental impact.
Along with Mayor Eduardo Martinez, a retired Richmond schoolteacher, Jimenez backed a 2024 ballot initiative — dubbed the “Make Polluters Pay Tax,” which pressured the giant oil refiner into making a financial settlement with the city, that will add $550 million to its treasury over the next decade.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.