Who Gets to Participate in Richmond’s Growth?

For too long in this country, we have treated the transition out of high school as a handoff. Schools educate young people, who then go to college or enter the workforce. Economic development recruits companies to communities; local workforce boards and systems train workers; and employers hire people. Everyone owns their piece, but no one owns the bridge.

In Richmond, the consequences of this gap are dire. We rank 49th out of 50 major metropolitan areas for economic mobility. Young adults from low-income families in our community earn 8% less than previous generations. But this doesn’t have to be a given — especially now.

According to the latest jobs data, despite a loss of 10,400 jobs over the past 12 months, demand for well-paying jobs in industries such as construction and healthcare exceeds the number of workers available in Richmond. We can’t afford to leave talent on the table.

For the past three and a half years, the Richmond Ed Fund, formerly the Richmond Public Schools Education Foundation, has organized our work around a simple north star: being the aforementioned bridge.

Do students know which careers are available to them and what those careers pay? Have they developed the skills employers value? Have they gained meaningful paid work experience? Do they know people who can open doors for them? When graduation arrives, do they know what comes next? And can a young person earn enough to live in their community?

We’ve all heard the age-old adage: it’s not what you know, but who you know. For young people born into resource-rich families, many of these questions are answered long before graduation. Parents make introductions. Their networks secure internships. Family members explain unfamiliar professions. Someone knows someone who can get a young person in the room. But

opportunity should not depend on inherited social capital. Public education should intentionally build that access. That belief led us to design RVA Builds

RVA Builds is a skilled-trades talent pathway that connects Richmond's young people with career exposure, preparation, paid work experience, industry credentials,apprenticeships, employment and careers that can support a family. In other words, we are building an intentional pathway for students exploring careers in the skilled trades.

For decades, economic development has rightly invested in the infrastructure businesses need to grow, such as land, roads, utilities, transportation, incentives and access to capital. Yet too often, we have treated talent as a workforce issue separate from economic development rather than as core economic infrastructure. We have become sophisticated at recruiting, but we need to become equally sophisticated at preparing our young people to secure these opportunities.

Imagine a Richmond student who begins exploring skilled careers before high school. She learns what electricians, HVAC technicians and industrial maintenance workers do and what those careers pay. She develops the technical and life skills needed to succeed. She completes meaningful paid work with an employer while still in school. She builds relationships with people in the industry. She graduates with a plan, real-world skills, work experience and the agency to pursue multiple pathways.

That should be the expectation, not the exception. This is not an argument against college but for real pathways for our students. A four-year university, a community college, an apprenticeship, a technical program and direct employment are distinct paths. Our obligation is to ensure that young people understand these paths, can access them, and know where they lead.

Hope is not a strategy for workforce development, education, or economic mobility. There is much to be excited about in Richmond and the broader region. Companies are investing, industries are expanding, and jobs are being created. We should celebrate this, but we should also ask a harder question: who gets to participate in that growth?

In June, Bloomberg Philanthropies committed $8 million to help launch RVA Builds. In August, a national family foundation committed an additional $2.55 million. Together, these commitments bring the total investment in this work to $10.55 million, creating a once-in-a-generation opportunity to support a different approach: building the bridge.

We are starting with skilled trades, but we won’t stop there. Our broader ambition is for Richmond to be a place where every young person can see a credible pathway from school into the industries shaping our region's future, and where employers recognize that developing the next generation of talent begins long before a job posting goes online. Richmond can become a national blueprint for what that looks like, but we will be judged on whether it works. Not by how many meetings we hold. Not by how many partnership agreements we sign. Not even by how much money we raise.

Judge us by how many young people complete meaningful paid work before graduation. Judge us by how many enter apprenticeships, jobs, and postsecondary pathways. Judge us by what they earn. Judge us by whether their wages grow. Judge us by whether employers return because they want to hire more employees like the first one. And ultimately, judge us by whether younger Richmonders can afford to build their lives in the city that raised them.

This piece by Richmond Ed Fund CEO Taikein Cooper was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on September 15, 2026.