Today marks the 15th anniversary of Metropolitan Richmond Day. It was the vision of Mayor Walter T. Kenney in 1996 that the region would come together on an annual basis to encourage a spirit of unity across jurisdictions and to engage in honest conversation on difficult topics. That year, elected officials from Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover signed onto "A Call to Community," a challenging document that was to become the basis for region-wide dialogues as well as a powerful tool for communities in several other cities.
This year John W. Franklin, director of international partnership for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, due to open in 2015, will make his first public appearance in Richmond. He says, "Our histories are intertwined and inseparable. It's not enough to know our own history; we need to know the histories and the pain and joys of others. Richmond is showing how we can come together to share our stories."
Hundreds of nonprofit, business, government and educational leaders have participated in these annual breakfast forums organized by Hope in the Cities. People of all faiths and socio-economic backgrounds have come together to build relationships and discover potential new partnerships.
In 2001 our guest was the British sculptor Stephen Broadbent, whose Reconciliation Statue now stands in Shockoe Bottom. A competition among Richmond school students — who were honored at Metropolitan Richmond Day — produced the words engraved on the base of the statue.
City mayors and national urban experts have shared insights. In 2002, author David Rusk urged us to consider the benefits of mixed-income housing — a challenge the region has yet to take up. In his book, "Inside Game/Outside Game," Rusk notes that isolated initiatives that are not supported by regional institutional change are doomed to failure: "It is like helping a crowd of people run up a down escalator ... the real challenge is to rewire the direction of the escalator."
On the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education , we invited Bill McNeil, school superintendent of Raleigh/Wake County, N.C., to share his innovative approach to economic integration (sadly later reversed by the school board). That year's breakfast forum launched a dialogue on healthy integrated public schools and focused this question for the community: "If every child were my child, what might I do differently?"
At this year's breakfast, Hope in the Cities and the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities will announce a collaborative region-wide project, "Unpacking the 2010 Census: The New Realities of Race, Class, and Jurisdiction." Using data developed by Dr. John Moeser, presentations and facilitated dialogues will be offered to organizations throughout the metropolitan region starting in January 2012. The goal is to focus attention on the root cause of socioeconomic inequities and to encourage serious and sustained conversation about policy alternatives.
As we mark 15 years of truth and of trust-building in the region and we continue to grapple with tough questions, let's remind ourselves of the concluding lines of "A Call to Community" that challenge us to a new concept of partnership and responsibility. It means:
Rob Corcoran is the national director of Initiatives of Change/Hope in the Cities and author of "Trustbuilding: An Honest Conversation on Race, Reconciliation, and Responsibility." Contact him at (804) 358-1764.
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