Russell: A Place of Promise jobs and careers

About Russell: A Place of Promise

Russell: A Place of Promise (RPOP) invests in the people and places of Louisville's Russell Neighborhood to build Black wealth and invest without displacement. Launched in 2018 with incubating support from Cities United, Louisville Metro Government and the Community Foundation of Louisville, RPOP now operates as a 501c3 nonprofit community land trust. RPOP’s theory of change involves investing in people first to solidify long-term, authentic and meaningful partnership with Black residents and centering resident leadership in organizational decision-making, direction and strategy. This approach relies heavily on direct, sustained and wide-ranging relationship-building with residents, including hiring Russell residents as part of RPOP’s staff, and ensuring strong neighborhood representation on RPOP’s Board of Directors. RPOP’s community engagement strategy includes a variety of approaches to grow RPOP’s network with residents, businesses, and community-based organizations in Russell. Investing in people before substantial investment is made in the “place” of the Russell neighborhood results in capital investments structured to be responsive to and rooted in the interests of Russell residents, restorative, equitable, resilient and beloved by the community. Capital and programmatic investments are structured to be transparent and accountable to residents, provide opportunity for resident ownership of assets, rely on the inherent talent, creativity and capacity of residents as partners, add more value than they extract, and fairly and evenly balance risks and returns among all stakeholders with residents placed in a position of primacy.