RPOP’s past programming focused on resident engagement, community building, and shared learning as foundations for wealth building activities.
2020 Russell for Russell Resident Coalition (R4R)
R4R included 26 Black Russell residents ranging in age from 22 yrs to 72 yrs. Together, the group co-created strategies that support Black wealth building and lead to investment without displacement of residents or businesses. The work of the group led to the development and co-authoring of the Russell Partnership Pledge.
2021-2023 Russell Workgroups
Over two years, 40 Russell residents participated in workgroups focused on defining RPOP’s future organizational form and the development of the 30th and Madison Street Property. Workgroups engaged in shared learning about community ownership options, made decisions about RPOP’s future incorporation, traveled to visit model organizations in cities across the US, and participated in site planning and tenant development activities. Workgroups made decisions using RPOP’s Russell Partnership Pledge as a guiding document.
Community Based Organization (CBO) Learning Circle
This program was focused on strengthening CBOs in and around Russell through collective learning and network building.
Russell Futures Learning Lab
This four-month program invited Russell residents and other supporters to learn more about RPOP’s housing strategy, including the creation of a community land trust. The group learned more about housing in Russell and created a set of shared values and recommendations for where RPOP should invest in new housing in Russell using Louisville Metro Land Bank properties. The Learning Lab benefited from the support of a group of masters-level students from the University of Kentucky’s College of Architecture who helped translate residents’ vision into housing models and maps that informed decision-making.
Canvassing & Pop Ups
The RPOP team popped in and up to connect and build relationships with residents and businesses throughout Russell.
RPOP Ambassador Program
Russell residents were invited to work with RPOP team members at community events, support office projects, and participate in canvassing. RPOP Ambassadors were compensated for their time.
Community Dinners
RPOP hosted dinners for Russell residents and community members to hear updates about RPOP’s work and to connect with their neighbors.
Neighbor Circle
This program was focused on strengthening connections between Russell residents, promoting resources and education for homeowners, homebuyers and renters, and sharing information about topics of interest to attendees.
Young Leaders Academy
RPOP worked with the Coalition Supporting Young Adults to create and facilitate an interactive 9-week program designed to help young leaders cultivate personal leadership skills, gain a better understanding of what community means, and grow their advocacy skills to make impactful change in their communities.
Summer Learning Series
This program explored new concepts of community ownership and wealth building, including community land trusts, cooperatives and guaranteed income/universal basic income, in a shared learning environment that included RPOP team members, Russell residents and local and national individuals and organizations with expertise in each of the topic areas. These conversations helped shape RPOP's strategies and decision-making related to its future organizational form, ownership models and the YALift! Program. Summer Learning Series programs took place virtually and in person in Summer 2021 and 2022.
RPOP Ambassador Program
This program invites Russell residents to work with RPOP staff at various community engagement events and support other outreach activities such as canvassing. Resident Ambassadors are compensated for their time.
RPOP is heavily guided by the voices of Russell residents and other members of the Russell community. We believe that relationship building is the foundation of our ability to hold space for shared learning and resident leadership and decision making. Since 2018, RPOP has hosted many events, large and small, virtual and in-person, canvassed the Russell neighborhood, and conducted neighborhood “pop-ups” featuring resources and RPOP swag.
Our signature event is Our Home: Russell Homecoming Weekend, an annual weekend-long celebration of Russell residents, and the neighborhood’s history and future. Each year, we partner with community based organizations, Black business owners, and residents to curate a family-friendly weekend full of community building, parties, entertainment, food, neighborhood tours, shopping, art, storytelling and more.
Our Home: Russell Homecoming Weekend
RPOP's annual weekend celebration of Russell's residents, history and future. Each year we partner with community organizations and Black owned businesses to curate a family friendly weekend full of community building, parties, entertainment, food, shopping, art and more!
Juneteenth
RPOP hosted an annual Juneteenth event in 2020, 2021 and 2022. These celebrations focused on the history of Juneteenth and offered family-friendly activities such as arts and crafts, music, children’s programming, a vendor fair, food and more. In 2023, RPOP supported partner MELANnaire Marketplace’s Juneteenth event.
RPOP believes in learning alongside residents as we grow our collective knowledge, and has developed resources to promote opportunities to help us explore grow together.
Political Conversations
RPOP hosted a series of virtual learning sessions featuring local elected officials discussing a range of issues and policies identified as significant to the Russell community. These events gave Russell residents a chance to engage directly with individuals representing them, to ask questions and gain a better understanding of the political system.
Virtual Library
As part of the support offered to participants in the Russell for Russell Resident Coalition and RPOP’s Workgroups, RPOP created a shared virtual library with resources related to RPOP's wealth building pathways, our national models, and more. This living resource will continue to grow as RPOP engages in ongoing shared learning with Russell residents.
Ujamaa Workbook (Download)
The Ujamaa Workbook was co-written by RPOP team members and Play Cousins Collective to engage Black children and families in activities focused on generational wealth. Readers can go on a journey with main character, Harmony, as she learns about community building, cooperative economics, saving money, Black inventors, gardening and more from her village.
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RPOP creates space for residents to have a significant voice in shaping their community. Through the Russell Partnership Pledge and our role as an accountability partner, we have united the voices of hundreds of residents and shifted the language and awareness of many community organizations and the broader community on the importance of centering resident voice and leadership. We have influenced the strategic direction and plans of major institutions, including our former fiscal sponsor and our city government.
The dual impacts of COVID-19 and state violence have greatly impacted Russell and our work. We have become more vocal advocates for justice, equity, and the prioritization of resident voices in making decisions that impact their lives and their spaces. We have developed a robust online presence and the ability to manage complex, long-running, intergenerational programs in virtual and in-person spaces. We have cared for our community by providing safe and joyful events, protected time and resources for self-care, and created a sense of belonging and family in Russell.
As we engage in our work, we will use our voices and our relationships to continue to advocate for policies, programs, and resources to be directed in ways that align with Russell resident priorities and to make investments that reflect the vision of and will be beloved by Russell residents.
Sign The PledgeDownloadThe Partnership Pledge is a guide for Russell residents and RPOP partners to establish decision making processes around investments, future strategies, policy and advocacy, and alignment with shared values and vision. The Pledge represents months of collaboration between RPOP and Russell residents and defines RPOP’s relationship, and the relationship we hope our partners will adopt, with Russell residents as we build Black wealth. The Pledge embodies principles to stabilize, create and grow Black wealth in the Russell community.
Black wealth is worth beyond debt and income.
Black wealth is a sense of security that allows Black inheritors to be self sufficient and abundant.
Black wealth exists in the stories we tell our children, the landscape of our homes, and in the values we share within our families.
Black wealth is protecting our property, values and roots.
Black wealth is the fruit of our labor and the effort to provide stable and thriving lifestyles for future generations.
Together, we are stabilizing opportunities for Black wealth building.
Together, we are creating new opportunities for the Russell community to build Black wealth.
Together, we are growing opportunities for Black wealth building.
Will you join us?
Black Wealth is:
Protecting our property, values, and roots
A sense of security that allows Black inheritors to be self-sufficient and abundant
The stories we tell our children, the landscape of our homes, the values we share with our families
"We are redefining wealth. We are driven to think critically and consciously with Russell at the center. We, the people of Russell, are the promise of the community."
- Russell residents, R4R Coalition, RPOP team, & signers of the Partnership Pledge
WHY SIGN THE PLEDGE?
You are in solidarity with Russell residents and their vision to be centered in the investment, futures strategies, involvement, and policy and advocacy happening in the Russell neighborhood
You know the people of Russell are what makes it special, and believe residents should be considered in decision-making in their neighborhood
You want to be a part of the decision-making for Russell
You are tired of non-Russell residents making decisions in the Russell neighborhood
You want to be a part of the changes happening in Russell, with the people of Russell
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