Enrolled in special education classes throughout his formative years of schooling, as an adult, Richard made his way to The READ Center to improve his literacy skills. A major challenge for the young man, according to teacher Kay McCall, was…

A year before Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he attended the Second Virginia Convention at St. John’s Church in Richmond. Alongside George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, and other important figures in the American Revolution, Jefferson listened…

Barbara Cole is a wife and mother, a career woman with a master’s degree in business, an overachiever, and a self-proclaimed optimist. “Some have called me a force of nature,” Cole explains. “I’ve never met an obstacle I could not…

Shayna Smith and her two sons, Trevor and Marcus, were very excited to move into their new apartment. The move meant that, for the first time in their lives, the boys would have a safe place to live and play.…

In 1994, when Kim Moncrief graduated from VCU with degrees in dance and psychology, she had no idea what would come of her passion for dance. She traveled and danced competitively with a company and taught many students locally, but…

Studies have shown that for its size, Richmond City has more food deserts – areas without consistent access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food – than any other American city. Sally Schwitters, executive director of Tricycle Gardens, says that statistic…

Maria was sixty-five when she made the difficult and dangerous decision to leave her abusive husband. After eighteen years of marriage, she fled her home state to seek refuge with family in Richmond. Maria hoped for a fresh start, but…

By age seven, Luke had lost both parents to acts of violence. He and his siblings were split up among relatives; he no longer had a place to call home. By the time he started first grade at his public…

The little guy at Walnut Hill Elementary School in Petersburg peered into his gift bag of books. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Where the Wild Things Are was one of his absolute favorites; he had always selected it at the…

Nine-year-old Liam and his 13-year-old sister, Melanie, are playing in the basement. Their lives, up to that moment, have been what every child deserves: quiet, stable, ordered. The gunshots from upstairs end all that. Their mother is critically wounded. Their…