Wow. The reaction occurred during a conversation yesterday between the Editorial staff and Mike Signer, candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. The night before, Signer attended the annual action meeting of Richmonders Involved to Strengthen Our Communities (RISC). The commitment manifested by the approximately 1,000 attendees at a Good Shepherd Baptist Church impressed him. A veteran of think-tank conferences drawing a handful of experts and poseurs, Signer applauded a meeting in which real citizens joined community leaders in talking about public policy.

Last year, a diverse group of congregations got the Richmond sheriff to form a task force to create a plan for a new drug-treatment program for city jail inmates. At last night’s annual action meeting of Richmonders Involved to Strengthen Our Communities, Mayor Dwight C. Jones promised to consider funding a program recommended by the task force. The program would cost about $140,000 a year for 120 inmates.