Rob Corcoran is a trainer, facilitator, writer, racial healing practitioner and international consultant who has led workshops and dialogues among diverse and polarized groups across North America and in Europe, South Africa, India, Australia and Brazil. He is also a singer-songwriter and has performed internationally in Initiatives of Change stage productions. He grew up in the UK and emigrated to the USA in 1980. From 2006 to 2016 he served as US national director of Initiatives of Change.
In the early 1990s, he was a cofounder of the Caux Scholars Program, which offers experiential learning in conflict transformation, principled leadership and restorative justice. In that same decade, he facilitated the creation of Hope in the Cities, IofC USA’s national flagship program for racial reconciliation, based in Richmond, Virginia, which was the nation’s largest interstate slave market and capital of the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Over three decades his team built a diverse network engaging all sectors and developed a nationally recognized model for dialogue, racial healing and partnership building. Under Corcoran’s leadership, Hope in the Cities developed a residential fellowship program which builds the capacity of community leaders to build trust across racial, religious, class and political divides. This Trustbuilding program formed the basis for similar programs in several other countries.
Corcoran has convened numerous national and international forums. He was a co-author of a dialogue guide for President Clinton’s race initiative. He consulted with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in the creation of its national Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation enterprise. His book, Trustbuilding: An Honest Conversation on Race, Reconciliation, and Responsibility was published by University of Virginia Press in 2010. In his foreword, Virginia Governor (now Senator) Tim Kaine wrote, 'Hope in the Cities has moved what looked like an immoveable barricade …. and has provided a map for the future.'
Rob Corcoran’s father, Duncan Corcoran, was a shipyard worker who became a leading activist in Initiatives of Change’s international efforts to overcome class war. Rob and his wife, Susan, have three grown sons. He and Susan now reside in Austin, Texas. His website is www.robcorcoran.org
