Richmond GBV coalition asks council to fund public-awareness campaign, seeks $100,000 for phase two

A community coalition seeking to end gender-based violence in Richmond asked the City Council on Tuesday to include $100,000 in the coming fiscal-year budget to support a citywide, multilingual public-awareness campaign and seed coalition operations.

The coalition presented a final report and described phase-two work to implement recommendations intended to improve services and systems for survivors and to expand outreach across linguistic communities. Naya Vingaziani, a facilitator for the Collective Healing and Transformation Project, and others said the coalition has already finalized policy recommendations and launched a coalition called Together We Rise to carry the work forward.

“Together we rise,” Vingaziani said as she introduced the coalition’s goals and timeline. Theresa Russell, who identified herself as a survivor and coalition member, and Noemi Franco, a planning-team member and UC Berkeley master’s student, also described coalition activities and asked the council to support staffing and outreach costs.

The coalition said it has raised about $51,000 in cash and in-kind support so far and estimated a total phase-two budget slightly over $200,000. Coalition leaders said the requested $100,000 would cover multimedia development, translation and interpretation, community-event stipends, childcare to ensure accessibility at meetings, a multilingual website and coordination stipends for community partners and survivors with lived experience.

Councilmembers expressed support but also asked for clarity on procurement, oversight and how a city-funded program would be structured. Several council members and city staff noted there are city procurement rules and auditing requirements that limit how the city can allocate public funds directly to community groups without a competitive process or formal contracting. City Manager Shasta Kirl said staff could provide options for next steps and recommended resolving procurement details and budget timing before any appropriation.

Councilmember Melvin Robinson pressed for assurance the coalition’s recommendations would be coordinated with public safety and county-level human-trafficking work; county representative Melody Saint Saens confirmed county coalitions and the district attorney’s office participate in human-trafficking response and that multiple procurement pathways exist (RFP, RFQ, sole-source in limited circumstances).

After discussion the council voted to accept the coalition’s presentation and direct staff to include the coalition’s request in the city’s budget process and return with implementation options. The council’s motion asked staff to propose how to advance the recommendations and to report back as part of budget deliberations.

The vote: motion passed (roll call recorded; Mayor Martinez absent).