January 28, 2005

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We are pleased to announce that after more than a half-century as the Rhode Island & Southeast New England Region of the National Conference for Community & Justice (NCCJ), we will transition to independence, becoming Rhode Island for Community & Justice (RICJ). We made this change to assure fiscal accountability for our community and local donors.

On January 31st the Regional NCCJ office will close. On February 1st, our new local nonprofit 501-c-3 organization, Rhode Island for Community & Justice, will open.

RICJ is a new organization but our mission is the same: to fight bias, prejudice and racism. Our programs, Board and staff will continue. Our office address and phone are the same. Our new website after March 1 will be www.ricj.org and email will be RICJ@cox.net.

In the past five years, our Rhode Island office has been responsible for training over 2,000 youth and community members as leaders in an increasingly diverse society. RICJ will continue this work through our programs – Youth, College and Grassroots Community Leadership Institutes, Interfaith Dialogues, Civil Rights Roundtable, Workplace Diversity Consulting, Metcalf Awards for Diversity in the Media and our Community & Justice Awards. And we will always have our Wall of Hope created by over 11,000 Rhode Islanders in response to 9/11!

We will seek funds and volunteers to cover our transition period and ensure seamless continuity of our programming. We will also seek a corporate sponsor to help maintain the Wall of Hope.

For over 50 years in Rhode Island, we have played a uniquely positive role. We are unique in being both an Interfaith and a Civil Rights organization. We are unique in that we do not serve a single constituency, but instead we are the voice that calls all people to common ground.

Our work has helped make Rhode Island a more open and welcoming environment. But we all know the fight against prejudice and bias is far from won. We need your support as we continue to fight for what Abraham Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature”.

Please call 467-1717 for more information. Thank you again for your continuing support.

Sincerely,

Clare Eckert, Chair Toby Ayers, Ph.D., Executive Director