History of DCIA

In 1969, four congregations in downtown Durham, NC, organized the Inner-City Church Council to address together needs for transportation and visitation for the elderly, and soon also started programs for children and youth.  It incorporated in 1972, and during the next six years, membership grew to 12 congregations. In 1976, the group’s name changed to Durham Congregations In Action, and its membership continued to grow over the years to include dozens of congregations of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others cooperating together in service.
During the following three decades, DCIA built a history of initiating cooperative programs among people of faith to address unmet community needs and put belief into action against poverty, racism and violence. Programs serving the Durham community that were launched or cosponsored at their start by DCIA have included:

Meals On Wheels
Urban Ministries of Durham
Emergency Energy Fund of DSS
Genesis Home
Host Homes
Interfaith AIDS Alliance
One World Market
Families First
Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham
Interfaith Hospitality Network
Ending Poverty Network

and MANY other shorter-term projects over the years.  From the beginning, DCIA has created space and opportunity for people of different denominations, races, and faiths to share and listen with one another, to grow from each other’s strengths and experience, and to put shared values to work.
The shape of our services over the years has changed, but DCIA has maintained its focus on being a cooperative, faith-based network offering care and support for the most vulnerable and forgotten in our community, and planting seeds in new initiatives to change lives in Durham.