Convene Community Voices

We create spaces where community members can lead the conversation. By centering lived experience as a driver for change, we ensure that community solutions are rooted in the realities of those most affected.

• We engage residents to describe neighborhood-level resource needs in ways that drive solutions, like the Northwest Food Access Initiative which led to the development of a full-service grocery store in Northwest Roanoke, or the Roanoke Valley Community Healthy Living Index, which provided residents with the evidence they needed to covert underutilized tennis courts into high-demand futsal courts in Northeast Roanoke.
• We collaborate with city leaders to embed authentic resident engagement in process that guide comprehensive policy reform and government finance decision making.
• We also support collaborative initiatives that ensure resident voices guide public health strategies, like the trauma-informed obesity prevention initiative, led by Child Health Investment Partnership of Roanoke Valley, or the Build Healthy Places for Children and the Families initiative, led by the Center and funded by ChangeLab Solutions in partnership between the City of Roanoke, Roanoke College, and Freedom First Credit Union, which led residents to make significant government finance decisions on behalf of the city.