Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities

The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities ("VCIC") is a non-profit organization that works with schools, businesses, and communities. Through its initiatives, the organization aims to reduce prejudice in these environments in order to contribute in improving academic achievement, workplace productivity, and enhanced local trust.[1] Specific activities include workshops, retreats, and customized programs for skills acquisition and education. The organization is also involved in training leaders who are able to work together to help the organization pursue its vision of inclusion. VCIC's programs and services have been recognized by local and national organizations.[2]

Since 2009, the organization's president and CEO has been Jonathan C. Zur. He has received a number of awards for his work with VCIC, including the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award.[3]

Chapters

The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities has a network of four chapters in different parts of the Commonwealth. These include: Lynchburg, Peninsula, Richmond, and Tidewater (South Hampton Roads).

History

The work of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities had its beginning in Lynchburg in 1935. That year, the President of Lynchburg College took the lead in pulling together a number of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish leaders to develop an educational program of communication and understanding. The group called itself the Lynchburg Round Table and almost immediately organized an all day Interfaith Conference. The meeting was held on November 25, 1935, in the gymnasium at Lynchburg College and attracted nearly a thousand people, including many clergy and lay leaders from other Virginia communities. According to news accounts of the time, the conference featured an informal discussion among a rabbi, a priest, and a Protestant minister followed by an endorsement of their efforts from United States Senator Carter Glass of Lynchburg Virginia.

The visitors present took the idea of the Protestant‑Catholic‑Jewish Round Table back to their communities. Chapters of the movement were subsequently founded in Richmond and Norfolk, and by 1946, those chapters were affiliated with the National Conference of Christians and Jews, cooperating as part of the Virginia Region of the NCCJ. New chapters were soon developed in Martinsville, Harrisonburg, Roanoke, the Peninsula, Petersburg, and Suffolk. In addition, the Lynchburg Round Table affiliated with the NCCJ Virginia Region in 1948.

In the early 1990s, the organization decided to be known as The National Conference, maintaining the letters NCCJ. Later, in 1998, the organization re-launched as The National Conference for Community and Justice. These changes were intended to honor the history of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, while reflecting the fact that the work done by the organization had long since expanded to encompass additional religious groups, as well other important human relations issues of the day.

In 2005, an important decentralization took place that brought NCCJ into the 21st century. Local offices across the United States, including the Virginia Region, became independent not-for-profit corporations. During this period of transition, the local organization became known as the Virginia Conference for Community and Justice. Two years later, in 2007, the organization relaunched as the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, completing the transition away from NCCJ.

References

1. "About Us". Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities. 2019-01-01. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
2. "Awards". Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities. 2019-01-01. Retrieved 2019-01-01.
3. "2016 Director's Community Leadership Award Recipient". Federal Bureau of Investigation. April 28, 2017. Retrieved January 15, 2019.