The Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Project, or simply “the Project”, founded in November 1999, called for an independent truth and reconciliation commission to be created to investigate the events of November 3, 1979. The principal and most immediate issue confronting the establishment of a potential commission was the ability to secure necessary funding to undertake the required work. Significant funding primary was ultimately donated by the Andrus Family Fund, with the International Center for Transitional Justice providing supplementary financial support. The overriding objectives of the Andrus Family Fund and the Project itself were not punitive in nature; they were not seeking to legally or financially sanction the responsible parties (i.e., the KKK and the American Nazi Party), but instead sought to identify constructive avenues designed to facilitate societal reconciliation. This reconciliation, it was held, could be most fully realized by utilizing an approach that objectively examined the truth surrounding the Greensboro Massacre. It was later decided in October 2002, to remove the term “Massacre” in respect to the victims and survivors. On January 10, 2003, 32 prominent Greensboro community members with ties to both the city and county government, including then city councilor Claudette Burroughs-White, declared their support for the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission.
