Amy Howard (University of Richmond), Rob Corcoran (Hope in the Cities), John W. Franklin (Smithsonian), Maureen Lee (Black History Museum), Ray Vines (NAACP), Tee Turner ( Hope in the Cities) (Photo: Cricket White)

“Race, freedom, and justice” is the theme of a new project launched by Hope in the Cities in collaboration with the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, the state NAACP, and other partners, including school-age students. It will explore aspects of the Civil War with emphasis on slavery, emancipation, racial equity, and healing.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation announced a $75,000 grant to support the project as a step in establishing Richmond as a “national center for community trustbuilding.” Activities will focus on accurate telling of racial history, highlighting the socio-economic challenges that are the legacy of this history, and exploring the role of trust as a foundation for building and sustaining healthy, inclusive communities.

“Richmond is uniquely placed to host this initiative,” says Rob Corcoran, national director of Initiatives of Change which operates the Hope in the Cities program. “In the context of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, we want to increase understanding of the impact of history, Richmond’s important role in emancipation, and the central role of race, class and jurisdiction in perpetuating inequity in the region. We also want to increase our ability to engage in honest conversation and to encourage courageous leadership and policy choice in areas that most impact the lives of children.”

Forums, workshops, and other activities will take place during 2012 and will lay the groundwork for further programming in 2013. The initiative dovetails with the “Unpacking the 2010 Census” project also launched this month.

With more than two decades of experience in community dialogue and racial reconciliation, Richmond is building relationships with other national projects such as the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation in Tulsa, OK where Hope in the Cities has led workshops for its annual symposium, and in Mississippi where programming is being coordinated with the William Winter Institute. The executive director of the Dayton Dialogue on Race Relations (OH), which has used Hope in the Cities curriculum for a decade, attended a recent training session in Richmond. “We hope that the funding from Kellogg will help us to further develop the potential of this city as a place where people can come to learn skills to heal their communities and to build a just and inclusive future,” says Corcoran.

Read the announcement in the Richmond Times-Dispatch