Initiatives of Change

Home About us Newsroom Stories Engage Resources Training

Stories from communities and individuals

These stories provide examples of how the Hope in the Cities model has been applied to address issues of race, reconciliation, justice, and responsibility. More stories can be found in the Connecting Communities Handbook.

Hope Starts at Home >>

Healing the Heart of Hartford, CT
18 June 2005

Digging up the Past, Fertilizing the Future >>

N.A.A.C.P. President and Chief Executive Officer Kweisi Mfume headlines an important event showcasing (confessing?) Baltimore's racial history and bringing together a richly diverse cast of participants.
29 June 2004

Richmond, Va '- a Case Study >>

This case study focuses on how the city of Richmond, Virginia, has worked to develop a shared vision for a new community: a community built on hope, commitment, and shared responsibility.
14 March 2002

Working for Change at Two Levels >>

“For many of us, race determines where we live, where we send our children to school and where we worship. Because racism is deeply embedded in the institutions of our society, white individuals are often insulated from making personal decisions based on conscious racial feelings and do not experience the daily burden that their brothers and sisters of color have to carry. We must change the structures that perpetuate economic and racial separation. But no unseen hand can wipe prejudice away.” (Emphasis added) From “A Call to Community”
17 February 2001

Journey of Healing 2001 >>

Statement by National Sorry Day Committee, Australia
11 January 2001

Liverpool Faces the Past '- and the Future >>

The English city of Liverpool is transforming the image it once had of dilapidation and decay. Its waterfront area is cleaned up, thriving and very tourist-friendly. The home of the Beatles and the Mersey Sound, of the Grand National and championship football teams, of Anglican and Catholic cathedrals joined by Hope Street, is looking to become, in the words of its Lord Mayor, "a true 21st century city".
17 May 2000

Talk of the Town in South Africa >>

How did the "conservative Afrikaner right-wing town" of Middelburg become the first non-racial municipality in South Africa?
24 November 1999

Oregon's Day of Acknowledgement >>

In what is thought to be the first such action in the nation by a state government, Oregon formally acknowledged its racial history
22 April 1999