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Resident’s in Action, Inc
With the onset of COVID-19, Residents in Action, Inc (RiA), (a collective group of local community influencers) initially mobilized to support one another and to diligently and strategically address the Coronavirus pandemic by making concerted efforts to prevent spread through education. Since 2020, RIA has successfully worked closely with individual residents, multiple grassroots groups, businesses, non-profits, agencies and organizations to improve the lives of Black residents and to positively impact the hardest to reach populations in Jackson. RiA promotes the concept of residents leading their own change as a cornerstone to resolve problems and to improve outcomes in a longer term and more sustainable way.
Over the years, RiA’s experiences highlighted the strength and power of people with shared goals coming together as a collective unit, the importance of lived experience and having resilience and the advantage that comes from the resident led group leveraging its trusted community relationships to get needed work done. RiA formally secured itself as a Black-led 501c3 non-profit in July 2023 to support continued efforts longer term. RiA established a mission to build individual capacity, to actively influence systems change and to promote an equitable community through advocacy and implementation of actionable community driven strategies led by residents.
Today, as a trusted support network with deep community connections and with a focus on equity, actionable learning, and authentic resident engagement, RIA members bridge the gaps between the residents and professional community partners through advocacy, education and collaboration on strategies to address specified concerns in the community, especially amongst those in the Black community and for those who have historically experienced inequity. RiA also challenges the professional community to do things differently. RIA specifically serves as a central hub of support services, coordination, and advocacy for small groups and nonprofits and intentionally strives to elevate grassroots projects and initiatives to reach their optimal potential. RIA looks to continue its work to build awareness, to harness community support and to address the root causes and effects of social determinants of health in the Black and impoverished communities. RiA and its Members and Partners have seen an increasing need of populations who need support.
The MI Community Center Grant funds will allow RiA to build off of the momentum from the last four years, give RiA the foundation to solidify its infrastructure (i.e. RiA’s core backbone, community-based workforce, etc.), to support the community with the resident led conceptual model, and expand application of lessons learned from previous projects that have addressed inequity. RiA is proposing to purchase brick and mortar and/or support renovations, and support expenses for operations, programming, equipment and supplies so RiA and its members can continue to serve the community. The end goal is to have a resident led community center with space to call RiA’s own where they can address emerging issues, as well as strategize and execute community driven strategies on their own terms.
RIA is committed to the success of resident led work and believes that it is the missing link to strategically turn Jackson's grim statistics around. Through the power of the resident-led work that is built upon trusted relationships, RiA can get results. They will continue to actively influence systems change and to promote an equitable community through implementation of community-driven strategies. They have also started to focus more on sustainable financing to proactively fund solutions for community concerns through intentional networking and by brainstorming new creative and innovative ideas to support their efforts, in addition to exploring fundraising opportunities and pursuing a portfolio of grants from local, State and Federal funders and philanthropic foundations and organizations.