Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On March 4, 2000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that representatives of 30 congregations in the St. Louis area are planning to meet regularly, possibly even monthly, to focus their efforts on combating racism in order to inform everyone in the region of the other's activities and to avoid duplicate efforts. The first meeting, sponsored by Rev. Martin Rafanan, who is the executive director of the National Conference for Community and Justice in St. Louis, convened representatives from the Interfaith Partnership of St. Louis, the St. Louis Clergy Coalition, and InterAct, which is a Danforth Foundation effort to pair predominately black and predominately white churches for friendships and joint missions.