"If we could model for the world what healing is, it would be a great thing,” said Gail Christopher, vice president for program strategy for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, at the national grantee conference, America Healing for Democracy, in New Orleans last month.

Canadian history is still handicapped by the way First Nations People have been treated since the arrival of the French and British colonizers. Deep wounds have been inflicted which are still today at the root of numerous social issues and difficult relationships within and between our communities.

Tom Chewning, former CF0 of Dominion, is known for championing the placement of a statue of Arthur Ashe on Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue. The proposal to include the African American tennis great and humanitarian on an avenue reserved for Confederate generals provoked controversy. “I got death threats,” said Chewning. “But the city is at a different place now.”

Anjum Ali and Jessica Stewart of central Virginia are two minority women who have taken on unique roles in their communities. Both said their faith is what motivates them to work to try to make a difference. This article by Sundra Hominik, of In Your Shoes Media, first appeared as a story in the Henrico Citizen, Virginia, on March 19, 2012.

The vision of Richmond, Virginia, as a Center for Community Trustbuilding is growing. Requests for training and consultation have come from Texas, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Rhode Island. Groups like the students from Duke University Divinity School have made “pilgrimages” to Richmond for programs facilitated by Hope in the Cities and hosted by Richmond Hill.

Sometimes the best way to move forward is to take a step back. Writing a New History, a new film produced by Karen Elliott Greisdorf, tells the story of 18 youth from Philadelphia, MS who did just that last summer as they journeyed on a civil rights youth pilgrimage through Jackson, MS, Memphis, TN, and Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma, AL.

As the country struggles with the issues of economic inequity the community in Richmond, Virginia, is learning more about the new realities of race, class and jurisdiction in the region. Forty facilitators have been trained to present a new DVD, Unpacking the 2010 Census and lead the community in dialogue.

“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.

This month Hope in the Cities and the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities launched a region-wide project aimed at provoking discussion about new policy options to address poverty and structural inequity in metropolitan Richmond. Forty people took part in a weekend training as presentators of “Unpacking the 2010 Census: The New Realities of Race, Class and Jurisdiction."

Distinguished historians of the Civil War and its aftermath spoke on “Healing the Wounds of History: North-South, Black-White” at a special forum in Washington, DC, on December 12. “We want to explore how the wounds of history are playing into the political polarization,” said former diplomat Joseph Montville, the moderator, noting that “resentment is very much alive in Congress today.”