CORA Press

October 18, 2006

(Ripley, West Virginia) To the lives impacted, the Commission on Religion in Appalachia, affectionately known as CORA, has served as a forty-year sojourn lighting the way to justice. Founded in 1965 as an ecumenical response to poverty in Appalachia, The Commission on Religion in Appalachia (CORA), a West Virginia Corporation, will close all operations on December 31, 2006. CORA has devoted more that 14 million dollars to the effort of fighting poverty. More than eighty percent was given to community agencies and organizations in twelve Appalachian states working directly with communities affected by poverty and it side effects.

Max E. Glenn, the first director of CORA, suggests that the findings from the Ford Foundation funded Study of Southern Appalachia in 1956 and the Appalachian Regional Development Act passed by the 89th Congress were the two primary impetuses for the creation of CORA. Over its life, the leadership of CORA has included representation from mainline Christian denominations, state councils of churches, sub-state regional councils, the National Council of Churches, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference and members elected at large from the Appalachian region. CORA has maintained offices in both Knoxville, Tennessee and Charleston, West Virginia at various points in its history.

Throughout CORA's illustrious history - Max Glenn, John McBride, Jim Sessions and Tena Willemsma have led CORA's mission "to express God's love in the empowerment of the people of Appalachia by working for justice." To confront the structural causes of injustice, CORA has channeled seed money to the region from the churches, through its Appalachian Development Projects Grant Making process, giving birth or support to numerous organizations - such as the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprise and the Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center in Kentucky, the Virginia Black Lung Association, the Southern Empowerment Project in Tennessee, and Stop Abusive Family Environments in West Virginia. CORA has supported capacity building within the funded groups through the formation of the Appalachian Development Projects Coalition (ADPC).

As people of faithful conscience, CORA saw a need to act "… dismantle the racism that has been built into our organizations and our communities." CORA-trained Anti-Racism Teams have set out on this difficult but necessary mission. In response to the need for improved housing, CORA established a volunteer program bringing work teams to the region from churches across America. CORA activities and achievements have extended to battles with the mountain-top removers and the coal companies who abused those working digging deep into the mountains. Public policy and even globalization has caught CORA's attention.

The Rev. Dr. Ralph Dunkin, Bishop of the West Virginia - Western Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Chair of the Board of the Commission on Religion in Appalachia, reported to the Commissioners that "CORA's success has been its downfall. Being successful as a prophetic voice, working with the disadvantaged, creating anti-racism teams to dismantle racism and providing grants to a wide array of Appalachian ministries are just a few of CORA's successes. These same successes were seen by some of the originally supportive denominations as a way to do their own ministry in the region. Therefore, denominations began in the early 1990's to create their own ministries and began decreasing their ecumenical support of CORA."

Dunkin also noted that "the volunteer program, the Appalachian Development Projects Coalition and the Anti-Racism work might continue in some fashion."

For additional information on the Commission on Religion in Appalachia, Contact ron davis, Director at 304.720.2672 or e-mail corainappa@aol.com