In 1963, Martin Luther King called for a day when “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.”

In December and January all 8th grade teachers of social studies in Portland, Oregon, were required to participate in professional development sessions on Beyond the Oregon Trail, a curriculum developed initially as a result of work by Oregon Uniting, a Hope in the Cities/Initiatives of Change affiliate. The curriculum is designed to encourage honest and positive conversation about Oregon’s multiracial history.

"Hope in the Cities has provided a map for the future," says former Virginia governor Tim Kaine in his foreword to Trustbuilding: an honest conversation on race, reconciliation, and responsibility, by Rob Corcoran, which is published this month by University of Virginia Press.

Don Cowles represented Hope in the Cities at a forum sponsored by WYES public television station in New Orleans, November 17. WYES serves as coordinator of The One Community Initiative, a local media project concerning race relations and diversity in the New Orleans area.

At 7:30 am, November 12, 2009, on a very rainy Thursday morning, the 13th annual Metropolitan Richmond Day breakfast began. The weather did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the diverse crowd.

The Richmond Slave Trail Commission has unveiled a vision for a $100 million to $150 million heritage site in Shockoe Bottom (the historical site of Richmond’s slave market).

(Photo: Maria Grace)The Hope in the Cities team helped facilitate an international Tools for Change conference August 9-15, in Caux,Switzerland. Sixty-five young Muslims from the UK, France, Sweden, Netherlands, and Germany were among the 380 participants from 50 countries.

For decades, Richmond, Virginia has been defined by its past: Capital of the Confederacy, hub of the African slave trade, linchpin of massive resistance to school integration. But a new story is emerging of communities collaborating, history being healed and bridges of trust being built through honest conversation. Karen Elliott Greisdorf reports on The Trust Factor, an Initiatives of Change National Forum held at the University of Richmond, June 4-7, 2009.

Leading practitioners of conflict resolution, dialogue and community building will come to Richmond, VA to explore the trust deficit that divides the U.S. at the local and national levels and globally as well. The forum is sponsored by Initiatives of Change at the University of Richmond, June 4-7 and will draw participants from many walks of life to share best practices of building bridges and living with integrity.

Matthew Freeman, Hope in the Cities Richmond community faciltator (Photo: Cricket White) Matthew Freeman, Community Facilitator for Hope in the Cities, facilitated a discussion at Leadership Metro Richmond’s spring luncheon program on May 15 using audience response keypads.