DISCOVER Initiatives of Change USA
 

The Challenge: Lack of trust undermines the best efforts to work for justice and inclusion in our diverse communities. Race, ethnicity, politics and class polarize and isolate us. Unhealed memories of historical wrongs fuel fear and resentment. The crisis of confidence in every sector of our national life poses critical questions: What builds trust? Can we trust again when trust has been broken?

The Trust Factor: Radical change in the lives of people and their relationships is America's most urgent need. Initiatives of Change works to inspire, equip, and engage citizens with the qualities of integrity and courageous leadership needed to establish collaborative communities. This distinctive approach enables people of different faiths and cultures to accept shared responsibility for change.

Learn about Initiatives of Change – its ideas, its history, its programs, and how you can engage and take action with this global network.

NEWSROOM ARCHIVE>>

It was a musical odyssey around the world. The veteran country and western group the Colwell Brothers from California, now in their seventies, had last performed in Caux, Switzerland, in 1961. Their first visit to the 'home for the world', as the Initiatives of Change centre in Caux was described, had been in 1953. Now they were back, with composer, pianist and xylophone player Herbie Allen, to give a barnstorming performance before a packed international audience in Caux's main hall on 14 August.

‘Trust is the social capital on which our democratic institutions depend,’ said Rob Corcoran at the European launching of his book Trustbuilding at the Caux conference centre. ‘The most-needed reforms in our communities and nations require levels of political courage and trust-based collaboration that can only be achieved by individuals who have the vision, integrity, and persistence to call out the best in others and sustain deep and long-term efforts.’

Katherine Marshall, a Senior Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, in her blog for the Washington Post's 'On Faith' section, reports on an inspiring encounter with Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye at the recent Caux Forum for Human Security at the IofC centre in Caux, Switzerland.

 

EDITORIAL ARCHIVE>>

One might argue the historian is the conscience of the nation, if honesty and consistency are factors that nurture the conscience.” Dr. John Hope Franklin (Race and History, Selected Essays, 1938 – 1988)

In life, Tulsa’s hometown hero, Dr. John Hope Franklin, challenged us to identify that which is broken in the world, and then set about fixing it.

Hannibal Johnson

The US is groaning with the pain of the “culture wars”—the battles of politics and religion that have raged between liberal and conservative, Christian and secular, "red" and "blue" since at least the 1960s, if not the 1860s. Both sides have suffered and felt oppressed by the other, and both have in their turn oppressed and caused suffering.

Zeke Reich