COMMUN1TY+ Update: Doubling Down on Community Voice

Since its beginning, COMMUN1TY+ has stood on and for two powerful pillars: collective impact—a collaborative model that brings together government, nonprofits, and community members—and community voice, an approach to civic engagement that places power in the hands of the people most affected by the issues we aim to solve.

Since 2020, COMMUN1TY+ has worked diligently to build deep relationships and a shared sense of purpose among those ambassadors, county agencies, and local nonprofits. In 2025 however, shifts in the political and economic landscape have led many current funders to step back from supporting systemic change and racial equity—critical resources that once fueled community leadership. At the same time, a more hostile environment has emerged, particularly affecting our immigrant community ambassadors and communities of color. These external factors have dealt real setbacks to the community voice component of our work and challenged the shared space COMMUN1TY+ has developed over the years. 

Yet we remain deeply committed to the mission. 

To meet this moment, LAZERA is doubling down on community voice in three key ways:

1. Building long-term community capacity to ensure that leadership doesn’t just survive but grows stronger. From September through November 2025, our community leadership academy will prepare a new cohort of up-and-coming and under-leveraged community champions along the Richmond Highway to advocate for their needs and lead change.

2. Lifting up all resident voices, particularly through our partnership with the 1 Brotherhood Empowered teen leadership program. To broaden the voices and tap into the energy and vision of young residents, we will also host a training for a cohort of Route 1 youth, in addition to the community leadership academy for adult community leaders.

3. Moving beyond the programmatic approach that has largely defined COMMUN1TY+ to-date to emphasize healing, capacity building, network weaving, and regular convening to allow community power and connections to emerge. With LAZERA as the backbone, COMMUN1TY+ is growing into a space defined by humanity, peer-to-peer learning and collective action. ​

At the same time, our collective impact efforts to convene the shared spaces for community and other leaders will continue. While we create opportunities for community leadership to regroup, we will continue to hold organizing meetings with county and civil society partners—maintaining the relationships, shared purpose  and collective energy we’ve built together.

As one participant said during a recent planning session: “Reinvesting in community leadership and creating collective spaces for dialogue—especially involving youth—is more important now than ever.”

We agree.

We also know how essential it is to communicate these strategic choices clearly, with honesty and resolve. These changes are not signs of failure, but signs of adaptation, resilience, and forward motion.

Thank you for standing with us. Your continued support is what makes this work possible.