Get Involved
RISC (Richmonders Involved to Strengthen Our Communities) is an organization made up of congregations from throughout Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield. Founded in 2002 (Bon Air Presbyterian being one of the founders), we use the power of large number of organized people to solve critical community problems. We are not a direct service provider, rather we are a grass-roots, direct action, multi-issue organization.
Dr. Martin Luther King describes best in his letter from a Birmingham Jail the premise for which RISC was founded and works today:
Actually, we who engaged in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of light and air, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
COMMUNITY ISSUES
In 2025, RISC identified Mental Health as a key issue negatively affecting our youth. We found one in four children in Chesterfield County experience mental, emotional, or behavioral problems. Although the County started a telehealth program last school year for Grades 6-12, the wait can be long and difficult to get appointments. RISC is partnering with Jessica Schneider a member of the Board of Supervisors and others to bring more effective mental health navigation tools to the community for quicker access.
Affordable Housing and Gun Violence issues continue to be monitored by RISC. 25,000 households in Richmond are without an affordable, safe and healthy place to live. More families live in mobile homes than reside in public housing. Countless families are grieving for those killed needlessly by gun violence. These are tense issues. We did not create them, rather we are bringing the issues into the open to expose them. Using Dr. King’s same tactics of direct action, we will not rest until we have cured these terrible injustices.
HOW RISC WORKS
Issue research and meetings with experts and decision makers conducted by RISC Organizers and volunteer network members during the RISC Action year (September 2026-June 2027) set the stage for RISC-wide gatherings throughout the year. Network Members commit to the four big Assemblies, congregation-level gatherings, and participate in these smaller issue-related meetings (see https://www.riscrichmond.org/ calendar
Key Meetings
Key meetings for RISC Events on the calendar over this season 2026 – 2027 of active action, include:
- Community Problems Assembly – Monday, November 9, 2026 at 7:00 PM (Location TBD)
- BAPC Network Meeting – Wednesday, January 20, 2027 at 6:45 – 7:30 PM (BAPC)
- RISC Rally – Thursday, March 16, 2027 at 7:00 PM (Location TBD)
- Nehemiah Action – Tuesday, April 13, 2027 at 6:30 – 8:30 PM (St. Paul’s Baptist)
- Celebration – Monday, June 7, 2027 at 6:30 PM (Location TBD)
All meetings will be in-person at member congregations throughout the metro-region. Locations to be announced one month before each key meeting. BAPC will provide carpool from our church for all RISC Events that are not at BAPC. Contact Pastor Alex (alex@bonairpc.org) or Barbara Jacocks (barbjacocks@gmail.com) for more information.