Mayor's Office
900 E. Broad St., Suite 201
Richmond, VA
23219 USA
Phone: 804-646-7970
Fax: 804-646-7987
Email: RVAMayor@rva.gov
Get in touch
To get in touch with Mayor Danny Avula, email RVAMayor@rva.gov. Mayor’s Office staff reads every email, but, given the volume, cannot reply to each email. You can also call the Mayor’s Office at (804) 646-7970, and someone will direct your call to the appropriate person.
- For emergencies, call 9-1-1. If you’d like to submit a service request, you can do so by calling 3-1-1 or visiting rva311.org
- If you’d like to submit a FOIA request, please email myr.foia@rva.gov
- Contact information for every department can be found rva.gov.
See below for instructions on how to request that the Mayor attend your event, issue a proclamation, write a letter, or light City Hall for a good cause.
Tips on filling out this request form:
- Please be as detailed as possible.
- Requests are reviewed on a bi-weekly basis and an acknowledgement of your request will be provided to you by email approximately two weeks from the date of submission.
- Once your request is reviewed, the Mayor's scheduling team will notify you (by email) of a decision regarding the Mayor’s availability.
The Mayor's Office reserves the right to modify or deny any proclamation request. An organization does not have exclusive rights to one day, week, or month of their proclamation, and proclamations issued in previous years will not be automatically re-issued. A new request must be submitted and approved.
Requirements
- A City of Richmond resident must make the request.
- Requests must be made no more 45 days in advance of the date you need the proclamation.
- Requests must be completed via the form below.
- Neither mailed, faxed, hand-delivered, emailed nor phone requests will be honored.
- Proclamations must affect a broad group of people. Requests to honor an individual or specific organization will not be issued.
Items to include
- Requestor’s contact information -- first and last name, address, and phone number
- The date that proclamation is needed by
- A brief summary or background of the event or organization -- must be Richmond organization/chapter
- The name and date(s) of the day, week, month, or event to be proclaimed
- Proposed text for the proclamation, including 4-6 “Whereas” clauses (must be Richmond specific)
- Sources for information included in proposed language
- An indication of whether the completed proclamation should be mailed (standard U.S. mail) or if you will pick it up
Please allow 2-3 weeks for a response.
All requests must be submitted 30 days prior to the date of the event or publication deadline. Emergency or short deadline requests must be submitted with draft language and will be accommodated as the workload permits.
What can letters be written for?
- Birthday (milestone birthdays)
- Appreciation (a thank you to individuals or organizations that have performed a public service or contributed to the success of an event for the Mayor, the government, or the city)
- Greeting message (individual or organization hosting a conference, convention, family reunion, or an event in the Richmond region)
- Welcome message (individuals or organizations that are visiting the City of Richmond or hosting an event in City of Richmond)
- Wedding anniversary (milestone anniversaries)
- Place of worship anniversary (increments of five or 10 years)
- Congratulations (given for significant accomplishments to individuals or organizations including retirement from a federal, state, or local government or private sector organization that serves the City of Richmond)
- Eagle Scout Award
- Graduation
Requests must be submitted at least 30 days in advance of the lighting date. Non-denominational, non-profits, and charitable events or causes (501(C) (3)) are eligible to make a request. Commercial entities, personal occasions, and religious observances will not be considered. Special themed lighting is at sole discretion of the City of Richmond
Evaluation
- Requests will be evaluated on factors including: nature of cause/event; history and background of organization, cause/event; how the lighting will benefit the cause/event; the relationship of the lighting to the cause/event; and relevance to the City of Richmond.
- The City of Richmond may override any existing and confirmed illuminations in support of citywide, national or world emergency observances, and will work with requestors to best accommodate or reschedule the original request.
- No organization may have the light configurations for more than four (4) consecutive days. The length of time for each approved request is entirely at the discretion of the City of Richmond.
- Priority in choosing colors for illuminations will be given to promoting events that celebrate the City, its civic institutions, local universities, City-recognized holidays, public events, and festivals. Requests to change the color or pattern of the decorative lights may be accommodated when feasible.
- If multiple requests are made for different colors on the same dates, preference will be given to events that are locally organized and that affect the largest number of City of Richmond residents.
- The City of Richmond retains the right to refuse any request for any reasons whatsoever.
