Mayoral Accomplishments

City Accolades 

#1 Place to Live in Virginia by Travel + Leisure Magazine

#1 Best Town to Visit by CNN

Most Climate Resilient City in the nation by USA Today

Tied 8th for Best Cities for Companies Looking to Relocate their Corporate Headquarters by Site Selection Magazine

Tied for 3rd Highest Percentage of Black-owned Businesses by Lending Tree

Children and Families

Provided access to after-school programs for every elementary and middle school student

Launched Richmond’s first Guaranteed Income Pilot, known locally as the Richmond Resilience Initiative

Invested $2.5 million to establish the Pathways Program– providing a traditional scholarship, monthly cash allowance, mentorship, and additional supports to RPS graduates propelling them to postsecondary success

Established the city’s first Office of Children and Families in 2021

Invested over $600,000 in ARPA funds to expand child care and early education in Richmond – opening four new child care centers and creating over 250 slots for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers

Created the Family Crisis Fund during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic, and allocated over $4 million since its creation to continue to help families in need

Dedicated $78 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to rehab and build new community centers – Calhoun, Southside, T.B. Smith, and Lucks Field

Created Richmond’s first Child Care and Education Trust Fund in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget

Housing

Created Virginia’s first Eviction Diversion Program – diverted over 1,600 evictions since October 2019

Increased funding for affordable housing by over 1,200% by investing $50 million over the next five years out of the city’s CIP budget to affordable housing projects and partnering with LISC to match our $50 million, for a total of $100 million towards affordable housing projects over the next five years (FY24-FY29)

Created almost 5,000 new affordable housing units since 2017

Allocated $1.4 million for a down-payment assistance program for city employees who are first-time homebuyers

Added 200 new shelter beds for the unhoused and partnered with Henrico County to fund homeless service operations

Formed a new Office of Homeless Services

City Transportation and Infrastructure

Launched the PULSE

Invested in ensuring GRTC remains fare-free

Invested $112 million into the City’s Complete Streets program – improving paving, sidewalks, alleys, bike lanes, and traffic calming measures

Paved over 1,200 lane miles and improved city road conditions from 70% rated in “poor” condition to 70% rated in “good” condition or better

Added 50 miles of bike lanes

Parks, Green Space, Climate Resilience and Sustainability

Increased funding for Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities by 73% since 2017

Added over 140 acres of park land since 2017, improving the 10-minute walk to a park from 74 to 80% for Richmonders

Improved our Park Score, designated by the Trust for Public Land, from 48 to 22, since 2017

• Richmond’s parks are now ranked number 22 out of the top 100 cities in America – the highest ranking for a Virginia city.

Established the RVAgreen 2050 Plan

• Achieved 50% of city municipal electricity sourced from clean energy
• Richmond named #1 on the USA Today list of Most Climate Resilient Cities

Invested over $851,000 in to the first ever Neighborhood Climate Resilience Grant Program

Won a $6 million grant from the USDA to invest in urban agriculture

Established Richmond’s first C-PACE program

Established Richmond’s first Solar Fund using $680,000 of American Rescue Act funds

Public Safety

Decreased overall violent crime by 22% since 2017

Created the first ever Gun Violence Prevention and Intervention Framework, which takes a whole-government and whole-community approach to addressing gun violence

• Partnered with NextUp RVA to establish the Positive Youth Development Fund
• Established the Trauma Healing Network to promote healing and resilience in communities effected by trauma
• Created the We Matter RVA program, which creates partnership with Richmond Public Schools, Communities In Schools, the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities and mental health providers to support middle school students directly impacted by gun violence

Invested millions to increase pay to public safety employees

Funded replacement for Fire Station 21 and Fire Station 12

Funded replacement for RPD’s First Police Precinct

Established Richmond’s first Real Time Crime Center

Implemented the Marcus Alert to improve response to mental and behavioral health crises in the City of Richmond

Selected to join the National Public Safety Partnership to support safer communities

Created a Task Force to Reimagine Public Safety in 2020

City Culture

Removed all Confederate monuments in the City of Richmond

Improved the city’s Municipal Equality Index score from 42 to 100 (perfect score)

Revamped the History and Culture Commission

Raised both the Progress flag and Juneteenth flag at City Hall for the first time ever

Celebrated cultural heritage months as a city, including Hispanic Heritage Month, Jewish American Heritage Month, Muslim American Heritage Month, ect.

Named Indigenous Peoples’ Day a local holiday

Became the first locality in the United States to recognize International Women’s Day as a city holiday

Economic Development

Created an award-winning master plan, Richmond 300, and established the Strategic Plan for Equitable Economic Development (SPEED)

Streamlined the city permitting process, improving turn-around time for applications to less than five days

Provided over 500 new business licenses and over 650 commercial business licenses in 2023

Brought over 6,500 new jobs to the city in 2023

Created more than $3.8 billion in announced capital investment from economic development projects in 2023

Named top three in the nation for concentration of Black-owned businesses

Ranked the 8th city in the country that CEOs should consider for corporate headquarters

Increased our tax base by 99% increase over the last decade

City Employees

Became the Southernmost locality to commit to and implement a collective bargaining agreement for City employees

Increased minimum wage from $11.00 per hour to $20.00 per hour for all city employees

Transitioned the city to the Virginia Retirement System

Increased parental leave from four to eight weeks

Partnered with Marathon Health to add employee health clinics

Good Government

Received AAA bond rating from Fitch Ratings

Completed the City’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report on time each year since 2017

Built structurally balanced budgets with built-in flexibility and established best practices

Increased collaboration with the Richmond City Council and the Richmond Public School Board

Established strong regional partnerships on critical initiatives, such as the Central Virginia Transportation Authority (CVTA), City Center project, opioid abatement, and homeless services.