Go Austin Vamos Austin

Go Austin Vamos Austin (GAVA) is a coalition of neighbors and community partners dedicated to breaking down barriers to healthy living and strengthening neighborhood stability in Austin’s Eastern Crescent. GAVA’s work is community-driven and resident-led, focusing on reducing barriers to health and increasing institutional capacity to respond to historic inequities. Since its inception in 2012, GAVA has activated over 2000 resident and community leaders and has enhanced, improved, or created over 40 community assets and programs. The organization has secured the re-allocation of more than $12 million in public funds for infrastructure improvements in neighborhoods such as Dove Springs and South Austin. GAVA’s produce distribution pilot, in partnership with Urban Roots, engages residents to improve access to fresh, local, and organic produce. Additionally, GAVA supports resident leadership in improving parks, trails, greenbelts, and other public green spaces, and addresses infrastructural needs to mitigate flooding and other climate risks. GAVA collaborates with local agencies like Lone Star Circle of Care and Austin Free-Net to address social determinants of health and provide community resources. GAVA’s model includes organizing and mobilizing community power to reduce barriers to health while increasing institutional capacity to respond to those most impacted by historic inequities. The organization’s policy priorities encompass anti-displacement funding allocation, land use, disaster preparedness and response, workforce equity for early childhood caretakers and educators, and equitable food policy planning. GAVA’s early childhood sector focuses on improving health access for children ages 0-5 years in the 78744 and 78745 ZIP codes, while its school sector works to institutionalize best practices at the school and district levels. GAVA’s neighborhood stability efforts include advocacy around Austin’s Land Development Code rewrite, Project Connect, zoning cases, and economic investments in neighborhoods. The principles of practice at GAVA include recognizing and respecting the ethnic and cultural diversity of neighborhoods, supporting self-determination, developing leadership for sustainability, and using a strengths-based approach.