What is RPA?

RPA formed to challenge corporate power, oppose the Iraq War, and fight for fair housing and rent control. Early campaigns against the Point Molate mega-casino, major anti-war actions, and the March4Education pilgrimage established RPA’s bold organizing style. Gayle McLaughlin’s 2004 council win became RPA’s first major electoral victory.

RPA expanded its environmental justice work, defended the wetlands, and helped end discriminatory driver’s license checkpoints. Gayle McLaughlin won the mayoral race, making Richmond one of the few U.S. cities led by a Green progressive. Richmond soon declared itself a sanctuary city and invested in the Office of Neighborhood Safety, helping drive a dramatic drop in homicides.

RPA fought Chevron’s refinery expansion, passed Measure T to raise Chevron’s taxes, and won council races despite massive corporate spending. Community pressure and ballot initiatives forced Chevron into a $114 million settlement. RPA also expanded cultural and justice-oriented community programming, anchoring itself as a movement hub.

RPA opened the Bobby Bowens Progressive Center, fought jail expansion, and pushed key re-entry initiatives. Policy wins like “Ban the Box” and joining Marin Clean Energy strengthened Richmond’s equity and climate agenda. In 2014, Bernie Sanders endorsed Team Richmond, and RPA swept the elections against Chevron’s $3 million offensive.

RPA helped raise Richmond’s minimum wage, mobilized a massive coalition for rent control, and restructured internally to become more participatory. After landlords invalidated the council’s initial vote, RPA gathered signatures for the ballot initiative. Voters passed Measure L, restoring rent control and just-cause eviction protections for the first time in decades in California.

Richmond’s Rent Board and Rent Program were established, creating one of the strongest tenant-protection systems in the state. Eduardo Martinez was re-elected while other races shifted the political landscape, including Melvin Willis’s high-profile mayoral challenge. The Point Molate legal settlement emerged as the next major development fight.

RPA supported the launch of the California Progressive Alliance and helped win the city’s ban on coal and petroleum coke storage. In Richmond’s first district elections, RPA candidates Claudia Jimenez, Melvin Willis, and Gayle McLaughlin all won, alongside Jovanka Beckles for AC Transit and a full sweep of endorsed school board candidates. Voters also approved a steeply progressive business license tax overhaul championed by RPA.

RPA helped secure a pandemic eviction moratorium and moved $6.3 million from policing into community programs, including a non-police crisis response team. The organization launched its first internship cohort and began the Listening Project to strengthen long-term community relationships.

Richmond’s progressive electeds backed by RPA forced Chevron into a $550 million settlement after pushing a refinery tax to the brink of the ballot. Rather than face voters, Chevron agreed to pay the city over ten years, securing major long-term funding for community services and infrastructure. The win marked one of the largest corporate accountability victories in Richmond’s history and reaffirmed the power of organized residents over corporate influence.