Virginia Community Voice

What Virginia Community Voice does

Virginia Community Voice (VACV) is a Virginia-based nonprofit founded in 2017 that organizes in historically marginalized communities along Richmond's Southside to increase neighborhood leadership over decisions affecting those neighborhoods, while preparing institutions to respond effectively through equity-focused consulting. Its community-facing work is anchored by the RVA Thrives program, which encompasses the Leadership Academy, Housing Working Group, Greening Working Group, ARCA youth program, and YEER (Youth Empowerment through Eviction Research), and is informed by the community-developed Equitable Development Scorecard used to hold developers and the City of Richmond accountable.

Its institutional-facing work is built around the Community Voice Blueprint, a four-stage methodology for moving organizations from surface-level outreach to genuine, community-centered decision-making. This methodology is monetized through paid training (e.g., $50/person virtual sessions and bundled 16-hour training packages), individual and group coaching, and an Equity Improvement Process consulting engagement. Past consulting clients include Maggie Walker Community Land Trust, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Virginia Tech Libraries, and Piedmont Housing Alliance.

The organization is funded through a combination of institutional grants from roughly eight Virginia-focused foundations, individual giving via the Community Voice Amplifiers monthly program, and consulting/training revenue. There is no proprietary technology platform; the value proposition rests on lived-experience-led staff, established community relationships, and codified consulting frameworks. The organization is actively developing a Healing Justice & Community Power Building Center on Richmond's Southside, having secured a 2-year lease in 2026 at the old T.B. Smith Community Center in Davie Gardens to serve as a pilot site.

Name

Virginia Community Voice

Legal name

Virginia Community Voice

Website

https://vacommunityvoice.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Virginia Community Voice is a Richmond, Virginia nonprofit founded in 2017 that organizes historically marginalized Southside residents through its RVA Thrives program and provides equity-focused community engagement consulting via the Community Voice Blueprint methodology to institutions statewide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Organizing and Equity Consulting Services

NAICS

Civic and Social Organizations (81341), Human Rights Organizations (813311), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Centers & Neighborhood Support Services (BPAGAEAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Racial & Ethnic Justice Organizations (BPAGAFAC), Civic Participation & Leadership Development (Voting, Advocacy, Community Leadership) (EDAAADAL), Youth Leadership, Civic Education & Service-Learning Nonprofits (BPAGADAI)

Keywords

• Community organizing services
• Equity consulting
• Community engagement training
• Nonprofit capacity building
• Healing justice programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Richmond

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: Foundation and institutional grants from Virginia Outdoor Foundation, The Funders Network, Community Foundation for a Greater Richmond, Robins Foundation, Richmond Memorial Health Foundation, CultureWorks, ConseRVAtion Fund, and The Schaberg Foundation.
2. Individual Investments: Community Voice Amplifiers monthly giving program where individuals invest time and money, grew from 16 to 42 donors between May 2021 and report date. Also includes one-time individual investments totaling over $7,000.
3. Consulting Services Income: Revenue from equitable community engagement and racial equity training, coaching, and consulting services using the Community Voice Blueprint model, generating approximately $82,400 in income as of 2021 report.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Virginia Community Voice equips historically marginalized Black and Brown neighbors in Richmond's Southside to lead decisions affecting their neighborhoods through the RVA Thrives community engagement program, while preparing institutions to engage communities genuinely through Community Voice Blueprint consulting, training, and coaching services. Earned income is generated from per-person training fees and consulting engagements, with the majority of funding coming from institutional grants and individual donations.

Product overview

Virginia Community Voice operates as a community engagement and social justice organization offering a unified set of programs centered around two main approaches: the RVA Thrives community engagement program (which includes Leadership Academy, ARCA Youth Program, Greening Working Group, Housing Working Group, and YEER) and Consulting Services built around the Community Voice Blueprint methodology. Additional offerings include the Equitable Development Scorecard tool, Training Programs, Coaching Services, and the developing Healing Justice & Community Power Building Center initiative. The organization serves historically marginalized communities in Richmond's Southside through advocacy, organizing, and institutional consulting.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RVA Thrives: Community engagement program that builds power and grows neighborhood leadership over decisions affecting Richmond's Southside.
• Community Voice Blueprint
• Equitable Development Scorecard

Products and services

• RVA Thrives Community engagement program that builds power and grows neighborhood leadership over decisions affecting Richmond's Southside, with multiple working groups and initiatives including Leadership Academy, ARCA, Greening Working Group, Housing Working Group, and YEER for historically marginalized Black and Brown neighbors.
• Community Voice Blueprint Community-led engagement consulting methodology that guides organizations from surface-level outreach to genuine, community-centered decision-making built on trust, shared power, and lived practice, delivered to nonprofits, government agencies, developers, and institutions.
• Training Programs Offerings including Equitable Community Engagement & Decision-Making training ($50/person, quarterly), Board Member training on community engagement ($50/person, twice yearly), and a Training Package bundling three trainings into 16 hours of customized organizational programming.
• Coaching Services Group coaching cohorts and individual coaching sessions with equity-minded professionals to apply equitable practices in community engagement.
• Equitable Development Scorecard Accountability tool developed by neighbors on Richmond's Southside to hold developers and the City of Richmond accountable to community priorities for development, with six sections covering community engagement, food access, safety, jobs, housing, and infrastructure.
• First Wednesdays Monthly virtual educational sessions covering topics such as rest as resistance, accountability in communities, human-centered workplaces, and building representative decision-making tables, delivered via open Zoom registration.
• Leadership Academy Program within RVA Thrives engaging Southside neighbors to connect them to their inherent power so they become leaders of change in their communities.
• ARCA Youth Program Art, Racial Reconciliation, and Civic Advocacy program led by youth, involving creative placemaking as part of the RVA Thrives portfolio.
• Greening Working Group Initiative within RVA Thrives that addresses food injustice and promotes community access to healthy food and environmental advocacy.
• Housing Working Group Working group within RVA Thrives influencing decisions about the built environment and ensuring housing and commercial developments benefit everyone in the community.
• YEER Youth Empowerment through Eviction Research project involving participatory action research led by Southside youth as part of RVA Thrives.
• Healing Justice & Community Power Building Center Planned permanent, neighborhood-based sanctuary on Richmond's Southside combining holistic wellness and community organizing, the first initiative of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic and Upper South.

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Richmond Parks and RecreationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Strong partnership with Parks and Rec for the conversion of the old TB Smith Community Center on Ruffin Road in Davie Gardens into the Healing Hub pilot site. VACV acquired a 2-year lease and began renovations through this partnership.
• The Healing NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerA collection of organizations and individuals brought together by Ms. Keisha Cummings of 2Love LLC, focused on bringing love and healing to communities impacted by poverty in Richmond. VACV staff member Florencia Fuensalida participated in healing sessions held in Gilpin Court, Hillside Court, Whitcomb Court, and Mosby Court. The partnership addresses missing links in community wellness through yoga, mindfulness, and community building.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Race Forward: National racial equity organization that produces training, consulting, and tools for institutions seeking to advance equity. Closely comparable to VACV's Community Voice Blueprint in audience and methodology, but operates at national scale.
• PolicyLink: National research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity. Shares VACV's equity consulting and institutional-capacity-building orientation, but operates as a policy and research powerhouse rather than a neighborhood-anchored organizer.
• Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC): National community development financial institution supporting neighborhood revitalization. Overlaps with VACV's housing, greening, and community-development work in South Richmond's housing and infrastructure priorities.
• Center for Community Change: National community-organizing hub supporting grassroots groups led by low-income people and communities of color. Comparable to VACV's RVA Thrives organizing model in mission and methods, though at federal-policy scale.

Emerging players

• Equity in the Center: National organization focused on accelerating racial equity within the social sector through training, tools, and consulting. Highly comparable to VACV's Blueprint offering for institutions seeking equitable decision-making.
• Building Movement Project: National organization that supports nonprofits in developing organizing practices and equitable leadership culture. Comparable in methodology focus to VACV's Blueprint and Leadership Academy, though targeted at nonprofit capacity-building broadly.

Regional players

• New Virginia Majority: Virginia-based civic engagement and racial justice organization that organizes historically marginalized communities. Operates in the same geography as VACV and shares a community-organizing and equity lens, though at statewide scale.
• Partnership for Housing Affordability: Richmond-area affordable housing nonprofit where VACV's Director of Consulting Services previously worked. Operates in the same housing-equity space that VACV's Housing Working Group addresses.

Direct peers

• Maggie Walker Community Land Trust: Richmond-based community land trust focused on permanently affordable housing and community ownership in historically Black neighborhoods — including the Southside. A former VACV client and a peer in geography and racial-equity framing.
• Thriving Cities Group: Richmond-based community development organization working on jobs access along the Richmond Highway Corridor. Several VACV staff previously worked there, and both organizations serve overlapping Southside constituencies — making it the closest comparable peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/vacommunityvoice
• YouTubeyoutube.com/playlist?list=PLMrBZSS5YMqmMrAxtA0KwU7Qo8gVY5SKh
• Instagraminstagram.com/vacommunityvoice

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Virginia Community Voice