Hey, Richmond . . .

It’s your Mayor, Danny. April has been a month of deep budget conversations and a month of seeing how our City’s budget impacts the daily lives of Richmonders. I’m going to be sharing more budget insights with you at the end of the month, but today I want to focus on some of April’s most inspirational moments.

Richmond’s ability to gather, uplift, and reckon with who we are and where we’re going felt especially present to me this month at the remarkable opening of the Shockoe Institute. The Shockoe Institute is and will continue to be a place where we invite people in to face our history honestly, where we don’t just dwell in the past, but work to understand it, to learn from it, and to allow it to shape a more just future.

Richmond and its people cannot find our way to healing, to thriving, without telling the full story of how we got here. Just outside the Institute’s doors, for example, stood Richmond’s largest slave-holding facility: Lumpkin's Jail.

Its owner, Robert Lumpkin, brutalized enslaved people for more than 20 years. He was known for his cruelty — publicly beating and torturing those who tried to escape, cramming people into inhumane conditions with no sanitation, forcing them to lie in their own waste.

Thousands of enslaved people passed through that complex, and it became known as the Devil’s Half Acre. And yet, in an extraordinary turn of history, Lumpkin left the property to Mary Lumpkin. She later leased the land to Baptist minister Nathaniel Colver, who established a seminary for newly freed Black Americans on that site. That institution would eventually become our beloved HBCU, Virginia Union University.

It is a remarkable story of redemption: A place once marked by so much horror becoming a place of life, learning, and possibility.

And that is what the Shockoe Institute is about.

It is about education.

It is about remembrance.

It is about giving people — especially the next generation — the tools to wrestle with hard truths and to imagine something better.

It is about healing.

And it is about redemption.

Because of the sheer scale of the domestic slave trade here, it is estimated that one in four Black Americans can trace their ancestry back to Richmond. So this work carries a broader mission — one that contributes not only to the healing of our city, but to the healing of our entire nation.

And there could not be a better time than now for that healing work.

I want to thank CEO Marland Buckner, whose hard work brought needed resources and people together to make this vision a reality, along with all others who endeavored to get us to the opening of the Shockoe Institute.

I hope each and every Richmonder takes the opportunity in the coming weeks to spend time in, learn from, and connect at the Shockoe Institute.

Keep reading for more ways Richmond is working to tell its story and gather together, through our new (!) Poet Laureates, our Earth Day initiatives, celebrations of our libraries, and a gathering for our Civic Associations, and I’ll be back with budget updates at the end of the month!

-Danny

Richmond welcomes its Laureates!

At this year’s Richmond Poetry Fest, Mayor Avula had a special announcement: he appointed not one but two Poet Laureates for the next cycle of one of our city’s coolest programs!

The Poet Laureate program brings some of Richmond’s most talented and community-oriented poets into the work of city government. They receive a stipend and a program budget to create opportunities for residents to connect through artistic expression.

Our new Laureates are Maurice “Moeflowz” Brown and Rosa Castellano. They’ve both spent years in Richmond letting this city shape their voices and shaping the city in turn. Get to know them both here!

✒️ Rosa Castellano

Rosa moved to Richmond in 2001 to pursue an MFA in poetry from VCU, and after a few years away, she and her family returned permanently to the city in 2018.

Rosa is perhaps best known as the co-founder of RVA Poetry Fest, where her vision for a broad literary arts community and her ability to gather and organize others have been instrumental to this annual event’s success. Rosa is also the Writing Engagement Coordinator at the Visual Arts Center and the Literary Arts Director for Sundress Publications. Her writing has appeared in multiple publications, and her debut poetry collection is entitled All is the Telling.

✒️ Rosa, what IS a Poet Laureate, and why did you want to be one? A Poet Laureate is a poet who, in addition to doing the work of making poems, is someone who makes poetry "in service" or "of service" to their community. Like most poets, I believe in poetry’s ability to meet us where we are, to hold sometimes what we cannot, to remind us that we have survived, and to sometimes be the only safe space. The Poet Laureate gets to do that job, gets to go out and remind or help people understand just what poetry has to offer and that's work I love to do!

✒️ What are you most excited for as Poet Laureate? I’m excited for what comes next! Richmond has an amazing Lit Arts Community, from award winning slam teams, to the MFA candidates at VCU, to the youth poets and poets & writers organizing and performing at the many weekly writing events—poetry is alive in Richmond and I can’t wait to see the alchemy that happens when writers from different groups and different parts of the city come together and dream up what’s next.

✒️ What is your favorite poem that you did NOT write? There are TOO MANY!! But I will always love Danez Smith and Hanif Abdurraqib , The Gate by Marie Howe, Intifada Incantation by June Jordan and most recently, american-Palestinian incantation by Fargo Nissim Tbakhi.

✒️ What’s your favorite Richmond poetry memory? Again, I have too many, but right now I’m still basking in afterglow from Richmond Poetry Fest and so, I will say the For Colored Girls Reading at Art 180 last week. Poets, choreopoets, slam poets and a playwright/actor/director came together to celebrate Ntozake Shange and it was magic.

✒️ What’s one way you’d encourage Richmonders to celebrate National Poetry Month? This question is easy: read a poem. If you can only do one thing, that would be it. Just read a poem and hold it close. Be reminded that words matter (which of course means: you and your words matter).

✒️ Where can Richmonders hear from you next? I was just added to the lineup for the last Wine Down Wed of the month on 4/29 as part of the Poetry Month Series at CNTR on Broad St. Find where I’ll be in May (@hornsbyrk on Instagram) and come out and say hi!

✒️ Maurice “Moeflowz” Brown

Dr. Maurice “Moeflowz” Brown’s first poetry performance in Richmond was in the early 2000s at Tropical Soul while he was stationed at Fort Lee. Since then, he’s become a fixture in Richmond’s slam poetry and spoken word scenes. His work explores identity, healing, the African-American experience, and the power of language to inspire & empower lives. He is the founder of Ink & Barrel Inc., an organization dedicated to empowerment through poetry, and serves as Associate Director of The Writer’s Den RVA. In addition to his work in the arts, Dr. Brown teaches math at Virginia Commonwealth University.

✒️ Moe, what is a Poet Laureate, and why did you want to be one? The Poet Laureate serves as an ambassador, advocate, and creative partner to the City of Richmond, supporting poetry centered events, programs, and initiatives. I wanted to step into this role because poetry has always been a vehicle for connection, truth, and transformation, and I see this as an opportunity to use my voice to uplift the community and create meaningful spaces for others to do the same.

✒️ What are you most excited for as Poet Laureate? I am most excited about making genuine connections, building bridges across communities, and creating more opportunities for poetry to be seen, heard, and felt throughout the city.

✒️ What is your favorite poem that you did NOT write? “Harlem” and “I, Too” by Langston Hughes.

✒️ What’s your favorite Richmond poetry memory? My first time performing at Tropical Soul. It was one of those moments where everything just clicked. The energy, the crowd, the vulnerability. That experience initiated everything.

✒️ What’s one way you’d encourage Richmonders to celebrate National Poetry Month? Attend a poetry event and be present in the moment. Also take time to write. Use different prompts, explore new ideas, and allow yourself the freedom to create without overthinking it.

✒️ Where can Richmonders hear from you next? You can catch me every first Sunday at Addis Ethiopian Restaurant. The best way to stay updated, though, is to follow me on social media, where I share all upcoming events and special appearances.

You can hear from both Moe and Rosa on Saturday, April 25, at 12 p.m. at the Libbie Mill Library. They’ll be in conversation and sharing their work. Stay up-to-date on everything they’re doing as our Laureates by visiting go.rva.gov/poet-laureate.

Tonight’s the Night: Come to the Neighborhood and Civic Association Summit!

On Monday, April 20 (tonight, if you’re reading this newsletter in real time!) Richmond’s Neighborhood and Community Services team is hosting the second annual Neighborhood and Civic Association Summit. It’s an opportunity for neighborhood organizations to hear from City staff about upcoming projects and to learn from each other about how to build and sustain some of our most needed community institutions.

“Civic associations want to build and create together and make their neighborhoods feels safe and and open,” says Timika Vincent, the city’s Neighborhood Engagement Manager. “Because they’re so engaged with the community, they know their residents, so they can help us do our jobs better.”

At the Summit, Timika says, “we want people to meet each other and learn from each other.” Because many City departments will be there, it’s also an opportunity to talk with city officials about concerns and possible solutions. Plus, there will be a ton of local vendors!

Head out to Main Street Station on Monday night—there's still time to register!

Community Starts at My Library

Another important civic institution? Our libraries! Fortunately for us, we have National Library Week encouraging us to take a moment to show our Richmond Public Library Pride.

“It’s a big party this week!” says Jenn Deuell, RPL’s Community Services Manager for Outreach and Engagement. “We try to highlight all the services, programming, and collections we bring to folks. And it’s an opportunity for the community to show that they support their library.” Jenn highlights ways you can participate:

Snag some fresh merch. The new gear on the RPL website features the Library’s new tag line—Community Starts at My Library—and proceeds benefit RPL programming.
Show the love with a yard sign. You can get a “Community Starts at My Library” yard sign at your nearest RPL location for free this week. Check out the branch map to find your closest branch and give them a visit.
Commit to Spirit Week. There’s a theme each day this week, and who doesn’t love an excuse to pull out your favorite band tee for “Reading Rocks” Day?
Pop in on a Ripple story time. The new Ripple mascot is ready to read to Richmond’s kids—and share some free new plushies in the meantime! Explore the schedule and come say hello with your littlest library fans.

Follow along with all things library—both for National Library Week and all year long—at rvalibrary.org.

Volunteering for the Planet

April hosts Earth Day (on Wednesday the 22nd!) and National Volunteer Month, so it’s a great time to get out and care for our city. Check out some of what our City departments are up to as they bring residents together to care for Richmond’s natural spaces:

Parks and Rec has been hard at work organizing Earth Day and volunteer opportunities for Richmond workplaces wanting to give back in April. They’re hosting 8 different events for workplaces around the city, and they’re holding two open events: A cleanup at Evergreen Cemetery on April 22, and a workday at Westwood Playground on April 25. If your organization or workplace wants to plan a volunteer day with Parks and Rec, email askParkRec@rva.gov to learn more.

The Office of Community Wealth Building, through their RVA Health Corps AmeriCorps program, is supporting a planting day at Hillside Mini Farm on April 25.

“At Groundwork RVA, we’re all about environmental services and connecting people to the garden and to healthy food. Community gardens bring people together, and we want to let people know that this is their space.”

- Monchelle Whitaker-Hicks, RVA AmeriCorps member

The Office of Neighborhood Engagement is hosting five community clean ups around the city on Saturday, April 25.

“Earth Day cleanups strengthen community pride and empower neighbors to take ownership of their neighborhoods. They also build lasting connections among residents, civic groups, and city resources, creating a more engaged and collaborative community beyond a single day of service.”

-Ashley Christian, Neighborhood Engagement Coordinator

The Month in Photos

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