Trustbuilding : An Honest Conversation on Race, Reconciliation, and Responsibility

The national director of Initiatives of Change and founder ofHope in the Cities, Rob Corcoran has been involved in promoting dialogue andconflict reconciliation among diverse and polarized racial, ethnic, and religiousgroups in an array of locales in Europe, South Africa, India and the United Statesfor over thirty years.Trustbuilding is part historical narrative andpart handbook for a model of dialogue and community change that has been adoptedboth nationally and internationally. At its center is the story of how Richmond,Virginia, a former slave market, capital of the Confederacy, and leading proponentof Massive Resistance has become a seedbed for interracial dialogue andtrustbuilding with national and international implications. In 1993, thisconservative southern city caught the attention of the nation with a publicacknowledgment of its painful history and a call for "an honest conversation onrace, reconciliation, and responsibility." City and county residents of allbackgrounds launched an unprecedented and sustained effort to address the "toxicissue of race." Known as Hope in the Cities, this endeavor is now in its seconddecade of work. Trustbuilding should extend itsimportant mission by carrying Richmond's story to communitieseverywhere.