Social Impact

The Office of Community Wealth Building’s Social Impact Team serves as the City of Richmond’s bridge between policy, programs, and the lived experiences of residents. Our work is grounded in the belief that lasting change happens when communities are not just served— but empowered, heard, and positioned as leaders in their own progress. Social impact is more than service delivery. It is the measurable, meaningful change in people’s lives that results from intentional action. For OCWB, social impact means removing systemic barriers, strengthening pathways to opportunity, and ensuring every neighborhood has access to the resources needed to thrive.
Our Role in the City of Richmond
The Social Impact Team operates as a community-facing engine within OCWB—bringing city services directly to residents, aligning partners around shared goals, and ensuring programs are informed by real community needs.

Our role is to:
• Serve as advocates for residents within City systems
• Translate community voice into actionable data and policy insight
• Strengthening trust between residents, organizations, and local government
• Ensuring equity, access, and accountability remain central to how the City serves its
people

By embedding ourselves in neighborhoods, schools, public housing communities, and grassroots spaces, we ensure that Richmond’s most impacted residents gain access to resources designed to support them!

Richmond’s challenges—and strengths—are deeply interconnected. Workforce access, education, housing stability, safety, and health outcomes do not exist in silos. 

The Social Impact Team approaches this work holistically, recognizing that economic mobility requires coordinated, community-driven solutions.

Our impact model centers on:
• Equity: Focusing on resources where barriers are greatest
• Prevention: Addressing challenges before they escalate into crisis
• Access: Meeting residents where they are, physically and culturally
• Sustainability: Building systems that outlast individual programs

This approach allows the city to move from reactive services to strategic, long-term community investment.

At the core of our work is asset mapping and community-informed data collection.

 Rather than leading with assumptions, we lead with listening.Through outreach, surveys, events, and direct engagement, we collect data that reflects:
• Resident-identified needs
• Existing community strengths and informal networks
• Barriers to participation and access
• Opportunities for partnership and program alignment

This data is then analyzed and curated through OCWB’s proprietary systems to inform program design, improve service delivery, and guide city decision-making. Allowing residents to help define how services are delivered gives the city a strategic advantage and drives innovation across departments!

Our work is guided by four core pillars:
• Data – Using real-time, community-sourced data to inform decisions
• Customer Service – Creating welcoming, respectful, resident-centered experiences
• Quality Control – Ensuring consistency, accountability, and effectiveness at every
touchpoint
• Unification – Aligning partners, agencies, and organizations into a coordinated network
of support

Together, these pillars ensure the community receives high-quality, responsive, and equitable
services across all OCWB initiatives!

The Social Impact Team supports OCWB and city-wide efforts through:
• Community Outreach & Engagement – Building trust, increasing awareness, and
strengthening participation
• Program Registration & Retention – Reducing barriers and improving follow-through
• Youth & Opportunity Pathways – Re-engaging youth and young adults who have
fallen through traditional systems
• Strategic Partnerships – Collaborating with faith-based organizations, employers,
schools, and nonprofits to expand impact

Our standardized flow of operations—from outreach and data acquisition to intake, eligibility,
and follow-up—ensure residents experience consistency, dignity, and clear pathways to
opportunity!

Our work has produced measurable results across education, workforce development, safety, and
crisis response:
• 3,000+ households reached city-wide through outreach and research efforts
• 8,500+ residents engaged through in-person events, tabling, and literature distribution
• Supported students in securing $400,000+ in HBCU scholarships through coordinated
college tours
• Launched workforce pipelines resulting in job placements and employer partnerships
• Distributed 35,000+ bottles of water during the city’s water crisis to families otherwise
missed
• Coordinated proactive gun violence prevention efforts with City and community
partners
• Implemented data dashboards to strengthen transparency, accountability, and
performance tracking
• Hosted OCWB’s first joint mental health training for residents and city staff,
advancing trauma-informed practices

The Social Impact Team is focused on scaling what works, deepening community partnerships,
and continuing to position residents as co-creators of solutions. Our strategic goals include
expanding outreach in public housing communities, increasing workforce placements, improving
graduation outcomes, strengthening youth pipelines, and building city-wide networks of care and
opportunity.

At OCWB, Social Impact is not a buzzword, it is a responsibility. We are committed to ensuring
that community voice drives city action, data informs equity, and Richmond continues to grow as a city where every resident can thrive.