We have teams ready to bring this program to any Richmond jurisdiction.
Rob Corcoran (Photo: Karen Elliott Greisdorf)Rob Corcoran has facilitated dialogue, reconciliation and partnerships among diverse and polarized racial, ethnic, and religious groups in an array of locales in Europe, South Africa, India, Australia and the United States. He is the national director of Initiatives of Change and founder of Hope in the Cities, which models honest conversation and sustained partnerships across traditional boundaries. He has lived with his family in Richmond for 30 years.
Rob is available to:
- Speak at public forums
- Teach classes and lead discussions
- Facilitate workshops on community dialogue, healing racial history, and teambuilding.
November 1, 7:00pm Rob Corcoran will be speaking at the Greencoat Forum in London on "Trustbuilding - an American Perspective." (Event flyer)
October 25-November 5, Rob Corcoran's UK book tour will take him to Nottingham, Bradford, Liverpool and London for a series of speaking engagements and workshops. Following the events in the UK he will be speaking in the Netherlands and giving an all-day workshop.
October 14, 9:00am-12:00pm, "Trustbuilding Tools for Racial Healing and Community Change" at the Center for Community Change, 1536 U Street, NW , Washington, DC. This workshop is presented as part of The Trust Factor 2011.
September 14-15, The Justice Department of British Columbia September 14, 6:00-8:00pm - Rob Corcoran will speak on "Hope in the Cities: Trustbuilding in our Community." September 15 - an all-day workshop on "Creating Communities of Hope: Trustbuilding and Social Change."
June 1-3, Tulsa, OK - Rob Corcoran and Tee Turner deliver a workshop at the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation at a symposium on "Hope & Healing: Black, White, and Native American"
May 9-10 - Hope in the Cities, Search for Common Ground, and the Faith & Politcs Institute lead a pilgrimage for Congressional Staffers to explore the work of healing history and its legacy in Richmond.
May 4 - First Baprtist Church, Richmond, VA. Rob Corcoran speaks on Trustbuilding to a Wednesday fellowship group.
April 11-12, Dayton, OH, - Rob Corcoran speaks at a reception for city leaders followed by a one-day Trustbuilding workshop.
March 17, 2:00pm, Westminster-Canterbury, Richmond, VA - Rob Corcoran will speak at an author's event.
January 24-29, Trustbuilding week in Norfolk, VA. Rob Corcoran will keynote the closing event at Norfolk State University on Saturday, January 29 at 1:00pm. For more information.
December 2, 1:00-3:00pm, American University Washington Semester Program, Washington, DC - joint class for the Conflict Resolution department.
November 4, Christopher Newport Univeristy, VA. Rob Corcoran will be giving a workshop for the Multi-Cultural Student Association.
October 23, 5:00pm, Barnes and Noble, Richmond, VA. There will be a discussion and book signing event at Barnes & Noble, Libbie Place in Richmond, VA.
October 12-18, Western Canada Book Tour. Rob Corcoran will be the keynote speaker for an event in Vancouver, BC (Event flier) and will be giving workshops and presentations in Calgary (Event flier) and Edmonton, AB.
October 5-11, Trustbuilding Events in Oregon & Washington. Rob Corcoran will be at the Univeristy of Oregon, Eugene, OR (Event flier) and at three events in Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA (Event flier)
September 23, 6:00pm, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. Trustbuilding discussion and book signing event at the Barnes & Noble on campus. Event flier
September 16, 6:00-8:00pm, American University, Washington, DC The Trust Factor: How to Build and Sustain Trust Locally and Globally. Open to the public. Location: American University East Quad Building/Old SIS Lounge. Event flier
August 4-10, Caux, Switzerland Rob Corcoran will speak and lead a workshop on the Trust Factor in Community Change during the week of Training by Initiatives of Change
June 2-4, Tulsa, OK
“Reconciliation in America: Moving Beyond Racial Violence”, national forum sponsored by The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, Tulsa, OK
May 27, 5:30-7:00pm, Washington, D.C. Search for Common Ground will host a Trustbuilding book signing at their Washington office at 1601 Connecticut Avenue, 4th Floor. This event is open to the public. RSVP to (202) 265 5300. Event flier.
May 22-23, Toronto, Canada Rob will launch Trustbuilding in Canada as the keynote speaker at the Initiatives of Change AGM in Toronto. He will also lead a workshop on ‘The Trust Factor in Community Change’. Event flier.
May 11, Austin, TX Rob will meet with the ‘Texas after Violence group’ and faculty teaching the Difficult Dialogues curriculum at the University of Texas, Austin.
March 15, 5:30pm, Richmond, VA
Book launch event with Governor Tim Kaine at the Library of Virginia, Richmond
March 9, 9-10:30 am, Washington, DC
“Prospects for Racial Reconciliation”, the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Forum, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Nitze Building , 1740 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC
Trustbuilding: an honest conversation on race, reconciliation, and responsibility
by Rob Corcoran
Trustbuilding: an honest conversation on race, reconciliation, and responsibility is part historical narrative and part handbook for a model of dialogue and community change that has been adopted both nationally and internationally. At its center is the story of how Richmond, Virginia, a former slave market and capital of the Confederacy, has become a seedbed for interracial dialogue and trustbuilding with national and international implications.
In 1993, this conservative southern city caught the attention of the nation with a public acknowledgment of its painful history and a call for "an honest conversation on race, reconciliation, and responsibility." People of all backgrounds launched an unprecedented and sustained effort to address the "toxic issue of race." Known as Hope in the Cities, this endeavor is now in its second decade of work.Trustbuilding should extend its important mission by carrying Corcoran’s story to communities everywhere.
University of Virginia Press
312 pages
15 b&w illustrations
$29.95 cloth
Email orders
Download an order form
The book can also be ordered from Amazon books online:
United States
United Kingdom
and from national IofC centres
Read the reviews for Trustbuilding.
Trustbuilding conversations in six European cities
“Whatever the differences between Europe and America, the focus on trust as an indispensable foundation for constructive change in community relations, economics, and politics resonates everywhere,” writes US IofC national director Rob Corcoran following a twelve-day visit to six cities in the UK and Netherlands.
16 November 2011
Trust as a tool
Hope. Obama won the presidency on it. America was built on it. But how are we supposed to maintain hope for equality in a nation that once institutionalized inequality? That went to war to maintain that inequality? That designated people, based on their skin color, as either an entire person or 3/5ths of one?
14 October 2011
Trustbuilding tools shared in Vancouver
'I think I will need to somehow remind myself daily of this workshop in order to faithfully apply it to my life and professional practice', said one participant in a workshop on the 'trust factor', hosted in Vancouver by the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) on 15 September.
23 September 2011
"Why spend the day talking about trust?" asks Walter Rice, a senior U.S. District Court judge in Dayton, Ohio. "Because nothing less than the future viability of this community – economically, socially, and politically – is at stake."
26 April 2011
A Week of Trustbuilding in Hampton Roads, VA
From January 24–29, citizens of Hampton Roads, Virginia, came together to put trust on the regional agenda. The Hampton Roads Trustbuilding Taskforce, organized the first-ever “Week of Trustbuilding.” Ten events brought together over 600 people.
18 February 2011
Trustbuilding in Canadian Cities
In a visit to Western Canada, Rob Corcoran met with university students, community and faith leaders, civic staff, activists, educators and the general public. In conversations everywhere, people wanted to know, "How do you move from dialogue to action? How do you deal with those holding power? How do you cope with frustration and disappointment?"
28 October 2010
What Conversation Needs to Take Place in My Community?
At a time when the U.S. appears more polarized than ever, people of all backgrounds are responding to the message of hope in Trustbuilding. During four action-packed days in Oregon and Washington, Rob Corcoran and Tee Turner led five presentations and workshops on university campuses and for diverse community groups.
America Must Deal with Race to Deal with Poverty>>
July 2011
Moving Beyond Election Rhetoric>>
November 2010
Needed: A Revolution of Unselfishness>>
December 2009
Discovering the DNA of a Trustbuilder>>
June 2009
A new day for America - as seen from Richmond, Virginia>>
November 2008
A Panic-Proof Experience>>
October 2008
The Conversation that is Already Happening>>
March 2008
Trust is a Fragile Bridge That Must Be Built Each Day>>
June 2006
Repairing the Breach>>
September 2005
Challenge, Irritate, and Demolish: the Value of Teamwork>>
August 2004
Please consider a gift to Hope in the Cities (HIC) to support our trustbuilding work.
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To comment on the book or other material available on this page
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Praise for Trustbuilding
Using personal narrative and exhaustive reporting, Rob Corcoran chronicles how Hope in the Cities has moved what looked like an immoveable barricade. The job is not done, but Hope in the Cities has provided a map for the future.
From the foreword by Governor Tim Kaine
This is a soberly inspiring book about citizens who have struggled to find respectful and productive ways of relating through dialogue across the racial, social, and economic differences that dangerously divide us. It is sobering because they have tackled inwardly and outwardly one of the greatest threats to civilization's survival; inspiring because they have changed lives and communities. I pray fervently that the seeds they have sown will spread widely and deeply.
Harold H. Saunders, Chairman and President, International Institute for Sustained Dialogue, former Assistant Secretary of State
Rob Corcoran's Trustbuilding reaffirms the moral imperative inherent in racial reconciliation. We are each responsible for spanning the great chasms created by racist ideology, widened by racial oppression, and deepened by historical blindness. Corcoran urges us to engage one another, build bridges, and cross the remaining divides. He offers us examples of what is possible, and tools with which to begin our own work.
Hannibal B. Johnson, attorney, consultant, and author of Black Wall Street, Up from the Ashes, and Acres of Aspiration
What a fine, eloquent, needed book…30 years of work and witness in Richmond have produced a document both as convincing as it is wide-ranging …I find the scope and narrative qualities of the work very impressive indeed.
Donald Shriver, President Emeritus, Union Theological Seminary, New York
Trustbuilding is a visionary, compelling account of healing and change. Don't just read it; share it with others in your community and use it as a roadmap for personal and public transformation.
Martha McCoy, Executive Director, Everyday Democracy
Corcoran blends personal narrative with history, social science, ethics, and social reform. It is written with such clarity and with such skillful use of the first person that it will appeal to a wide audience, including the general public, but also to scholars, community organizers, group facilitators, people in non-profit organizations, particularly people interested in personal transformation and social justice.
John Moeser, Senior Fellow Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, University of Richmond
University of Virginia Press, February 2010