Dear Friends,

The initial smell and feel of Spring is in the air and we must seize this Spring 2009 fresh beginning to renew ourselves, our hopes, and our energies to build social change for our City and our world.

April will be a lovely month from which to join hands more firmly to strengthen our commitment to environmental health and justice, economic equity, and social empowerment for all.

Let me share with you just a tiny snapshot of a few recent achievements and updates from my office.

On March 7, my office organized Richmond's 2nd Annual International Women's Day event and it was a smashing success!! Hundreds of women (and also some men) joined together to celebrate "Women in Solidarity: Honoring Self, Honoring Community." An enormous thank you to my staff, especially Marilyn Langlois, as well as to all the community groups who participated in organizing this extraordinary event. An enormous thank you also to former Black Panther Party leader and criminal justice reform advocate, Elaine Brown, who was our dynamic keynote speaker. Elaine spoke passionately about the historic struggle and the ongoing critical need to bring about efforts that create authentic social change, particularly for those most in need -- those suffering the most -- throughout our nation.

The initial planning meetings for the 2nd Annual Richmond Youth Empowerment Day have begun! This will be another great event this year, organized by my office. It will be held in June . . . exact date to be announced soon.

My office participated in getting the first Green Bus Tour in Richmond off the ground. Thank you to Nicole Valentino from my office and of course to the East Bay Green Tours group! Last month a group of youth were "on the bus" receiving a tour of Richmond's many green businesses, community gardens, our Richmond Greenway, many of our solarized buildings and our Solar Richmond/Richmond Build green job training center. These exciting tours are expected to continue. Check out the blog that has been created: http://localbizblogs.com/greentours .

My office is participating in the Green Expo coming up on May 14 from 4 pm to 7 pm at the Craneway Pavillion of the Ford Building. This expo is titled "Green is Gold Expo" and is being presented by the Richmond Chamber of Commerce and the City of Richmond.

We continue to work throughout West County and our region as a whole standing up for Immigration Rights! This issue cannot recede into the background. One out of 4 of our residents are foreign-born in Richmond and we honor the full diversity of human rights in our City. I participated in the annual ACLU Immigration Rights Forum last Friday, March 27th, and the key points raised were the need for more unity, more action, and more joining together among all social justice groups in West County.

A couple final points of information I want to share with all of you are:

1. The City of Richmond has a new web page with updates on the City's requests for federal Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Check out this link to stay informed on applications that are being processed and allocations of funding that have been confirmed: http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/index.asp?nid=1790

2. EXCITING NEWS: The new newsletter of the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) has arrived!!! Articles included in the first issue are: The Measure T Lawsuit; Schools and Foreclose Crisis Immediate Issues ; Richmond Women Celebrate International Women's Day; and Mobilizations to Save Neighborhood Schools. This newsletter will come out by email every few weeks. It's clear that, with your help, we have brought forward lots of breakthroughs in Richmond in recent years. The RPA wants these breakthroughs to continue, to deepen, to spread out to every family and individual throughout Richmond and we are committed to coordinating efforts and sharing information to create the best possible Richmond for all! Sign up TODAY for the RPA newsletter by emailing RPAactivist@gmail.com and ask your friends to sign up as well. The first issue has been sent out, and the next issue will be available soon.

Thank you all again for continuing your efforts to bring about a better Richmond!

Sincerely, Gayle McLaughlin

"From the depth of need and despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their own problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength." ---Cesar Chavez