Dear Friend,

In this week’s newsletter, I summarize the meeting organized by my office that brought together the Richmond delegation and the Richmond City Council for a discussion of priorities for the city. I also highlight recent community engagements. Thank you for reading and staying informed. 

General Assembly and Richmond City Council Joint Meeting 

On Thursday, the majority of the members of the Richmond Delegation (Delegates Betsy Carr, Michael Jones, Rae Cousins, and I) met with the Richmond City Council members who were able to join us for a joint meeting: Council President Kristen Nye, as well as Councilmembers Ann-Frances Lambert, Nicole Jones, Cynthia Newbille, Stephanie Lynch, and Andreas Addison. The purpose of the joint meeting was to initiate conversations between state and local officials representing Richmond City in preparation for the 2025 legislative session. 

As the Capital City and as one of the oldest cities in Virginia, Richmond has a unique place in the history of the Commonwealth and the country. Ensuring that the concerns of the city and its diverse communities are addressed at the state level is of critical importance to those of us who represent Richmond in the General Assembly. This joint meeting offered us an opportunity to hear a presentation on the 2024 Session and its legislative and budgetary impacts on Richmond. Specifically, this past session continued to grapple with the budget implications of the combined sewage overflow (CSO) infrastructure needs, the funding of public education, housing needs in the city, public safety, mental health concerns, transportation, and maintenance of city streets and infrastructure. In broad terms, we heard from City Council members about anticipated legislative priorities for the General Assembly. These priorities will be further clarified once City Council has held its discussions in mid-July.

A similar joint meeting between the Richmond Delegation and the Richmond City School Board members will be held later this summer, as we continue to bring state and local officials together to collaborate on delivering effective policy and budget measures to support healthy and thriving communities in the city and its surrounding region.

Commission Meetings

This week, I chaired the Virginia Housing Commission’s Affordable Housing and Landlord/Tenant Law Workgroup. The workgroup focused on three items of legislation sent to us from the 2024 legislative session to analyze issues in more detail:

• flood-related disclosures
• flyover zones disclosures
• affordable housing projects on religious properties

I am also a commission member of the  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission. While I was not able to attend this commission because it met at the same time as the Housing Commission workgroup, the other members of the Commission focused on the agenda items: election of chair and vice chair and the preservation of the history of Massive Resistance in Prince Edward County. The video of the Commission meeting provides the full discussion of commission members.

Select Community Engagements

Last Friday evening, I joined our Virginia Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Caucus as it hosted its final Heritage Month celebration. The event was held in Fairfax at the home of Sue Langley who was the first AAPI individual to be elected to serve as Chair of a Democratic Committee in Virginia. Our event brought together many community leaders as well as several elected officials from the Fairfax area. Our growing AAPI communities are playing critical roles in all areas: education, business, science and medicine, the arts, government, and more.

On Saturday morning, my staff joined the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for its Clean the Bay Day at Broad Rock Creek Park. For the past thirty-five years, volunteers across the Chesapeake watershed have gathered for this annual event to protect the Bay from debris in its fragile ecosystem, a reminder of the need for environmental stewardship.  

On Saturday as well, I attended the annual India Association of Virginia’s India Mela. This festival celebrates our central region's Indian community and culture through cuisine, goods, and artistic highlights. Many organizers, volunteers, cultural artists, and vendors helped make the event a big success.

On Sunday, I joined Faixfax Democrats for the annual Blue Fairfax Dinner. The evening was full of energy and packed with enthusiastic Democrats from all across Fairfax County. The keynote speaker, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, shared a vision of the Commonwealth that is inclusive, thriving, and focused on our collective future.

On Monday evening, I met with the Emporia City and Greenville County Democrats. They understand the high stakes of this November as we work to protect our democracy. We discussed many topics including the critical needs of rural communities, public education, and education funding.

On Tuesday morning, I joined Serve Virginia, VA Recovery Corps and members of the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission in the Chesterfield Public Defender’s Office. Our discussion centered on our public defender offices' great work in collaboration with Recovery Corps navigators. The power of personal stories of resilience and recovery is critical to helping others in long-term recovery. One of the peer recovery specialists, Chelsea, embodies the success of the program as she has successfully earned multiple degrees while helping others in recovery. This morning, Chelsea was awarded the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award and a personal letter from President Joe Biden.

Yesterday, on Friday evening, my Legislative Assistant and I joined athletes, families, volunteers, coaches and community members from across the Commonwealth for the Special Olympics Virginia Summer Games Opening Ceremony. Over 1200 athletes will be competing across five different sports throughout the weekend. What an inspiring event to see the passion, energy, and success of athletes showcasing their skills and determination to achieve challenging goals while also supporting each other with pure team spirit.

National Gun Violence Awareness Day

Yesterday marked the tenth annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Each year, three million children across our nation are directly exposed to gun violence, resulting in death, injury, and lasting trauma. Here in the Commonwealth, gun violence is the leading cause of death for children. This is unacceptable, and we cannot afford to ignore our gun violence crisis. On National Gun Violence Prevention Day, and every day, we must work to strengthen our gun safety laws, reduce violence, and save lives. Our children deserve to go to school, play, and live in communities free from gun violence.

Connecting With My Office

My office can be reached at the following:

Email:  [email protected] 

Phone:  804.698.7515

If you were forwarded this email, you can sign up to receive my office’s weekly newsletter here. 

— Ghazala

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