Senator George Mitchell has launched a $3 million Northern Ireland Fund for Reconciliation to channel mainly US donations to community rehabilitation and development and education projects in the North.
The trustees of the new fund are Mr Mitchell, as chairman, and the leaders of the pro-Belfast Agreement parties: Mr David Trimble and Sir Reg Empey of the Ulster Unionists; Mr John Hume and Mr Seamus Mallon of the SDLP; Sinn Fein's Mr Gerry Adams; Ms Monica McWilliams of the Women's Coalition; Mr Sean Neeson of Alliance, Mr David Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party and Mr Gary McMichael of the Ulster Democratic Party.
All except Mr Hume joined Mr Mitchell at the launch press conference in Belfast yesterday.
Mr Mitchell paid tribute to the "ordinary citizens who have laboured long and hard to bridge the divides of history and aspiration. They are the heroes and heroines of this society".
He hoped the new fund would help such people "intensify their efforts to create the society our young people deserve".
Since the signing of the Belfast Agreement, he had become aware of a "huge reservoir of support" abroad, particularly in the US, for the people of Northern Ireland "as they chart a new course".
The new fund would give such people an opportunity to assist the work of reconciliation, and he was hopeful it could raise a million dollars in each of the next three years.
To minimise bureaucracy, the fund will distribute its money through existing charitable organisations, and the American Ireland Fund is handling its US donations.
Mr Mitchell said it would particularly target "grassroots cross-community groups, caring organisations and those who promote tolerance and understanding through the educational system", with a particular emphasis on young people.
It is expected that the bulk of the fund's donations will go to educational projects.
Asked why he had chosen the North's still-divided political leaders to become the fund's trustees, Mr Mitchell said they were the people in Northern Ireland he knew best and had worked most closely with.
"I greatly admire and respect them," he said, "and who knows Northern Ireland better than the political leaders who represent the people of Northern Ireland."