I was going to write about racism or threats to our democracy. But instead, this blog is about one person. A man who is truly at peace with himself and lives to share that peace with others. Leroy can be found most days outside a garage where I take my car for oil changes or inspections. He sits on a […]

Little is known about the remarkable woman whose resilience and determination resulted in Richmond’s most notorious slave jail becoming the birthplace of today’s Virginia Union University. Yet Kristen Green, through meticulous research and vivid imagination, has illuminated the story of Mary Lumpkin and placed her in the context of the struggle for freedom and dignity in America’s brutal environment of […]

Alumni of the Community Trustbuilding Fellowship Program met in Richmond, Virginia on June 9. Representatives from every cohort since 2004 took part. They shared what they most remembered from their experience and what has been most impactful for them in their work. High on the list were the building of a diverse community over the course of five weekends, the […]

Watching the moral collapse of the Republican party and the enabling of white nationalism by its leadership, I was reminded that retiring Senator Robert Portman (R-OH) is among those who stand for a very different vision of America. He was one of more than 100 national and local leaders of all racial and political backgrounds who put their names to […]

Masks became a divisive symbol over the past two years. Protests erupted across the USA and around the world. Now the masks are coming off. We are emerging, many of us tentatively, into social and workspaces that may feel different. We face everyday decisions, such as when still to wear a mask, whether to shake hands or hug a friend or […]

On January 10th, 2022, Richmond, Virginia, City Council approved $1.3 million in funding towards the development of a National Slavery Museum and historical campus in the Shockoe Bottom district. This downtown area was the center of a slave trading market that was second in size only to New Orleans for decades before the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. […]

We are approaching the end of two traumatic years. For many life will never be the same. At the time of writing, the US death toll from Covid has reached 800,000. One hundred and sixty thousand children have lost at least one parent or caregiver. Racial inequity, political polarization and economic anxiety touch all of us in different ways. Unprecedented […]

Chris Breitenberg is a longtime friend  and colleague in the work of trustbuilding. He is the Director of National Program Partnerships at Rising Tide Capital, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming lives and communities through entrepreneurship. In that role he continues his life’s effort to build a more peaceful and whole world — by encouraging, accompanying, and equipping individuals and groups […]

I recently returned from visiting a remarkable initiative in LaGrange, a city of about 30,000 in Troup County, an hour’s drive south of Atlanta. For the past six years, a diverse group has been working steadily to heal historical wounds, engage in honest conversation and build partnerships. Chalton Askew, the executive director of Trustbuilding Inc. Troup County, hosted me for […]

“I love America.” These were the parting words of my father at my final visit with him as I left to catch my flight from the UK back across the Atlantic. He spoke with intensity, grasping my hand and attempting to rise from his hospital bed. Dad was a Scot who spent seven years in the USA, arriving not long […]