Trial by water: Avula spends first days in office tackling outage, community fills gaps

January 15, 2025, The Commonwealth Times

Sheri Shannon is co-founder of Southside ReLeaf, a community organization working for environmental justice in South Richmond. The group took up the mantle of publishing translated information for Spanish-speaking Richmonders when the city was not.

ReLeaf collaborated with numerous nonprofit organizations to distribute over 100,000 bottles of water — primarily to childcare centers, senior homes and other people who could not get to distribution sites. They also created a resource map, pointing people in the direction of free showers and meal sites.

Shannon said they ran into people who did not know there was a boil water advisory or why their water pressure was low. She said there was a need for proper emergency response networks and for the city to diversify communication channels via push notifications, digital billboards, PSAs and trusted networks — all multilingual.

“I think this is a moment for Dr. Avula to really connect and deal with the Richmond community, to listen and to hear them, and to just try to restore a lot of the confidence that has been lost over time,” Shannon said.