WHO WE ARE

[Years later, there’s still no better voice to introduce RCND than that of our late Board President Effie Steele. Effie’s fierce love and leadership embodied the very essence of the Coalition, and still guide us today.]

The Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham (RCND) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that invites people of faith and goodwill to come alongside those most-affected by violence through vigil ministry among surviving loved ones of homicide victims, support circles for citizens returning from incarceration, and restorative justice practices that repair the harm caused by wrongdoing. Twenty-eight years on from our founding by Mr. Leslie Dunbar and Rev. Mel Williams (in 1992), we persist in our mission to prevent and rectify the injustice of violence that segregates our city and diminishes our humanity.

We are an interfaith and interracial organization whose purpose and success depend on inclusiveness. The Coalition is supported by five part-time staff, who work alongside three collaborative circles of leaders (both staff and volunteer) to shepherd our core practice in Vigil, Reentry, and Restorative Justice. In 2019, these leaders engaged over 300 individual volunteers and community partners from across Durham in practices of proximity and repair.

We are also governed by a Board of Directors, whose leadership exemplifies how sharing imagination, resources, and respect create effective peacemaking.

We are grateful for the generosity and support of local individuals and congregations, and to Durham Congregations In Action, Parents of Murdered Children, Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership Program “Doing Good In the Neighborhood,” Triangle United Way, AJ Fletcher Foundation, Delta Foundation, NC Conference of the United Methodist Church, United Church of Christ Peace & Witness Committee, Durham County, and The City of Durham.

The coalition’s 2016 budget was $70,000. In 2015 we received $66,100 in local donations – the majority from individuals living in Durham. We spent $62,100 on ministries, including $8,360 on emergency needs of our neighbors. All RCND activities are open to all and provided at no charge.

Emergency needs included assistance with groceries, bus passes to jobs and schools, diapers and household items, prescription drug co-pays, subsidies for water, gas, and electrical deposits and bills, fees for replacing public documents, rent deposits, automobile parts and repairs, gasoline cards for families to travel to hospital, prayer vigil, or trial, clothing, cell phone service for job seekers, funeral urns, burial markers, and materials about traumatic grief. Coalition partners also donated vehicles, mattresses & box springs, and computers for our community partners. The coalition also co-sponsors with the Durham County Criminal Justice Resource Center a clothing closet for our neighbors on probation or returning from jail or prison and their families.