Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Inc. Board of Trustees
Rev. Traci Blackmon is the executive minister of Justice & Local Church Ministries for The United Church of Christ and senior pastor of Christ The King United Church of Christ in Florissant, MO.
Initially ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. Blackmon served in various ministry capacities for 9 years, prior to becoming ordained in the United Church of Christ and installed as the first woman and 18th pastor in the 162 year history of Christ The King United Church of Christ. A registered nurse with more than 25 years of healthcare experience, Rev. Blackmon’s clinical focus was cardiac care, and, in later years, her focus shifted to mobile healthcare in underserved communities with the greatest health disparities in her region. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Birmingham – Southern College (1985), and a Master of Divinity degree from Eden Theological Seminary (2009).
As pastor, Rev. Blackmon leads Christ The King in an expanded understanding of church as a sacred launching pad of community engagement and change. This ethos has led to a tripling of both membership and worship attendance over the last seven years, expanding membership engagement opportunities, and the establishment of community outreach programs. Community programming includes a computer lab, tutoring, continuing education classes, summer programming, a robotics team, children’s library and girls’ mentoring program, all housed in the church.
Regionally, Rev. Blackmon’s signature initiatives have included Healthy Mind, Body, and Spirit, a mobile faith-based outreach program she designed to impact health outcomes in impoverished areas; Sacred Conversations on Solomon’s Porch, quarterly clergy in-services designed to equip local clergy to assess physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health concerns within congregational life; Sista SOS Summit, an intergenerational health symposium for women and girls; and Souls to the Polls STL, an ecumenical, multi-faith collaborative that was successful in providing over 2,800 additional rides to the polls during local and national elections.
A featured voice with many regional, national, and international media outlets and a frequent contributor to print publications, Rev. Blackmon’s communal leadership and work in the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown, Jr., in Ferguson, MO has gained her both national and international recognition and audiences from the White House to the Carter Center to the Vatican. She was appointed to the Ferguson Commission by Governor Jay Nixon and to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships for the White House by President Barack H. Obama. Rev. Blackmon co-authored the White Privilege curriculum for the United Church of Christ and toured the nation with Rev. Dr. William Barber of Moral Mondays and Repairer of the Breech, Rev. Dr. James Forbes of The Drum Major Institute and pastor emeritus of The Riverside Church in New York, and Sister Simone Campbell of Nuns on the Bus proclaiming the need for a moral revival in this nation.
Rev. Blackmon is a graduate of Leadership St. Louis and currently serves on the boards of The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Chicago Theological Seminary, and WomanPreach! She is a co-author of the newly released White Privilege curriculum through the United Church of Christ and has received several awards and recognitions, including The White House President’s Volunteer Service Award, 2015 Ebony Magazine Power 100, Deluxe Magazine Power 100, The Coalition of Black Trade Unionist – Drum Major Award, NAACP – Rosa Parks Award, Rosa Parks Award -United Trade Unionist, National Planned Parenthood Faith Leader Award, The United Church of Christ – Antoinette Brown Leadership Award and an Honorary Doctorate, Eden Theological Seminary.
Rev. Blackmon currently resides in between St. Louis, MO and Cleveland, OH and was named 2017 Citizen of the Year by The St. Louis American and as one of St. Louis’ 100 Most Influential Voices.
Rev. Blackmon is the proud mother of three adult children: Kortni Devon, Harold II and Tyler Wayne Blackmon.
Rev. Dr. Valerie Bridgeman is the Founder and President of WomanPreach!, Inc., the premiere non-profit organization that brings preachers into full prophetic voice around issues of equity and justice both in the pulpit and in the public arena. Her mission is to produce a network of preaching women and men who will use their voice in service to the gospel of Jesus Christ, especially as it relates to Womanist/Feminist concerns of equity and justice.
She was recently appointed as Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio after serving one year as Interim Dean. She also is Associate Professor of Homiletics and Hebrew Bible since 2015, after having served as Visiting Professor for a year and a half.
Dr. Bridgeman is a graduate of Trinity University with a double major in Communication and Religion. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where she won the Charles L. King Excellence in Preaching Award for graduating seniors. She pursued further studies at Baylor University, receiving a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biblical Studies with a concentration in Hebrew Bible.
Dr. Bridgeman has written several published works, Homiletics: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Biblical Interpretation (Oxford University Press, forthcoming), A Perspective on the David Narratives (Rizpah) and A Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus (Syrophoenician Woman/Mark 7:24-30), Global Perspectives on the Bible (Prentice Hall, 2011). She has edited and contributed to The Africana Bible: Reading Israel’s Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora (Fortress Press, 2009) with “Jonah” and “Nahum,” and co-edited Those Preaching Women: A Multi-Cultural Collection (Judson Press, 2008).
Rev. Dr. Iva E. Carruthers is General Secretary of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. (SDPC), an interdenominational organization within the African American faith tradition focused on justice and equity issues. SDPC is both a 501c3 and United Nations Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). As founding CEO and trustee of SDPC, she has steered the organization as a unique, influential, and esteemed network of faith-based advocates, activists, clergy, and lay. Former director of the Black Theology Project, Dr. Carruthers has a long history of teaching, engagement in community development initiatives and social justice ministry, fostering interdenominational and interfaith dialogue, and leading study tours for the university and church throughout the United States, Caribbean, South America, and Africa. Dr. Carruthers is Professor Emeritus and former Chairperson of the Sociology Department at Northeastern Illinois University and was founding President of Nexus Unlimited, an information and educational technology firm. She was appointed to the White House Advisory Council on the internet, “National Information Infrastructure”, Mega Project and the educational software she developed was awarded a ComputerWorld Smithsonian Award. She is also the founder of Lois House, an urban retreat center, Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. Carruthers is a frequent guest speaker before various national and international forums, including U.N. Civil Society Forums. She has served as a consultant and delegate to many organizations in the public and private sectors. She currently serves as a Life Time Trustee for the Chicago Theological Seminary and trustee for The American Baptist College, Nashville; Shared Interest, New York; Bread for the World, Washington, DC. She is a member of the National African American Reparations Commission. She is working on initiatives related to the U.N. Decade of People of African Descent, including establishment of the Center for Reparatory Justice, Transformation, and Remediation at McCormick Theological Seminary. Dr. Carruthers is co-editor of Blow the Trumpet in Zion: Global Vision and Action for the 21st Century Black Church and has authored and edited several articles and publications in the areas of sociology, technology, and instructional technology. Her many study guides on African American & African history were developed as a co-producer of a multi-year educational television program. She was a delegate to the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance. Her publication, The Church and Reparations, was distributed by her denomination, United Church of Christ, in several languages.
She received a B.A. degree from the University of Illinois, an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University, a Master’s in Theological Studies degree from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Humane Letters, Meadville Lombard Theological School. Awards and postdoctoral fellowships received by Dr. Carruthers include Northwestern University Center for Urban Affairs, The Russell Sage Foundation, University of Chicago, Adlai Stevenson Institute for International Affairs, and The National Endowment for the Humanities. Her many awards and appointments include the 1999 Life Achievement Award by Northeastern Illinois University and the Year 2000 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year award given by the National Foundation of Women Legislators and the Small Business Administration. She was inducted into the National History Makers, was a recipient of Ebony Magazine’s year 2001 Outstanding Mother Award for Mentoring; and, noted as a Chicago area social justice pioneer in the Women Alive! A Legacy of Social Justice Exhibit.
Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr. was born on September 6, 1935 in Burgaw, North Carolina to James A. Forbes, Sr. and Mabel Clemons Forbes. Forbes was raised as one of eight children in Raleigh, North Carolina. He received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1957. At Union Theological Seminary in the New York City, Forbes wrote his master’s thesis on Pentecostalism and the Renewal of the Church and obtained his M.Div. degree in 1962. Forbes earned his clinical pastoral education certificate from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond in 1968. Forbes earned his DMin degree from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in 1975.
Following his graduate studies at Union Theological Seminary, Forbes returned to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he worked briefly in his father’s church, Providence United Holy Church. In 1962, Forbes became a student intern at Olin Binkly Memorial Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and went on to pastor Holy Trinity Church in Wilmington, North Carolina; St. Paul’s Holy Church in Roxboro, North Carolina; and St. John’s United Holy Church of America in Richmond, Virginia. After earning his Clinical Pastoral Education Certificate from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Forbes worked as campus minister for Virginia Union University in Richmond. In 1973, Forbes became a director of education for Interfaith Metropolitan Theological Education Inc. in Washington, D.C. In 1976, Forbes joined the faculty at Union Theological Seminary as its Brown and Sockman Associate Professor of Preaching. He became the Union Theological Seminary’s first Joe R. Engle Professor of Preaching in 1985. In 1986, Forbes gave the Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale University, influencing his 1989 publication, The Holy Spirit & Preaching.
Union Theological Seminary named Forbes the first Harry Emerson Fosdick Adjunct Professor of Preaching in 1989, the same year he was installed as fifth senior minister of Riverside Church in New York City. His installment rendered him the first African American senior minister of one of the largest multicultural and interdenominational congregations in the United States. Following his address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, Forbes led an interfaith rally and demonstration at Riverside Church as part of the Church’s Mobilization 2004 campaign. In 2007, he formed the Healing of the Nations Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit, national ministry of healing and spiritual revitalization. That same year, Forbes retired as senior minister emeritus of Riverside Church. He authored Whose Gospel? A Concise Guide to Progressive Protestantism in 2009.
Forbes is the recipient of fourteen honorary degrees, including D.D. degrees from Princeton University, Trinity College, Colgate University, and University of Richmond. In 1996, Newsweek recognized Forbes as one of the twelve “most effective preachers” in the English-speaking world.
Forbes and his wife, Bettye Forbes, have one adult son, James A. Forbes III.
Wendell L. Griffen is an Arkansas lawyer, jurist, legal educator, business leader, ordained Baptist minister, and public speaker. Born in Prescott, Arkansas, Judge Griffen attended the University of Arkansas School of Law from August 1976 through May 1979, when he received the Juris Doctor degree. While in law school, he served in the Student Bar Association, was president of the Black Law Student Association, and was Associate Editor of the Arkansas Law Review. He was awarded the first Silas Hunt Memorial Justice Award presented by the Black Law Student Association in memory of Silas Hunt, the first black law student admitted to an institution of higher education below the Mason Dixon line, in 1979.
After graduation from law school Judge Griffen joined the Little Rock law firm of Wright, Lindsey & Jennings, becoming the first lawyer of color to join a major Arkansas law firm. He practiced business and tort litigation with the firm and was admitted to the partnership in January 1984, becoming the first lawyer of color admitted to the partnership of a major Arkansas law firm.
On April 15, 1985, Governor Bill Clinton appointed him Chairman of the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission, making Griffen the first person of color named to that state agency and the first to chair it. Griffen served in that position until February 2, 1987, when he returned to his law practice with Wright, Lindsey & Jennings. Governor Jim Guy Tucker appointed Judge Griffen to the Court of Appeals at the end of 1995, and he entered judicial service in 1996.
While on the Court of Appeals, Griffen also remained active in professional, civic, and religious life, including service as President of the Pulaski County Bar Association, President of the Judge William R. Overton Inn of Court, Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church of Little Rock, and Parliamentarian of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. Judge Griffen concluded his tenure on the Arkansas Court of Appeals at the end of 2008. From 2009-2010, Griffen joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law as a Visiting Professor of Law teaching pretrial criminal procedure and leading a seminar titled “Cultural Competency, Inclusion, and Law.”
In 2011, Judge Griffen was elected as judge to Arkansas’s Sixth Circuit for Pulaski County. In addition to this, he currently serves as pastor of New Millennium Church in Little Rock and CEO of Griffen Strategic Consulting. He also runs a blog called Justice is a Verb!. Judge Griffen is married to Dr. Patricia L. Griffen, a clinical psychologist practicing in Little Rock, and they are parents to two sons: Martyn and Elliott.
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Rev. Dr. Frederick Douglass Haynes III is the senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. He is a prophetic pastor, passionate leader, social activist, and eloquent orator and educator engaged in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, fighting against racial injustice; committed to economic justice and empowerment in under-served communities, and touching and transforming the lives of the disenfranchised. He is a committed community activist who has formed alliances with local community leaders and Dallas city officials to fight domestic violence and poverty by organizing a Faith Summit on Poverty. He has worked with the Center for Responsible Lending in order to fight economic predators in Texas and across the nation that engage in predatory lending.
Dr. Haynes received a B.A. degree in Religion and English at Bishop College in Dallas, Texas; a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; and a Doctorate in Ministry from the Graduate Theological Foundation where he was afforded the opportunity to study at Christ Church, Oxford University in Oxford, England. His dissertation, To Turn the World Upside Down: Church Growth in a Church Committed to Social Justice, reflects his commitment to faith based social activism.
A committed community activist, Dr. Haynes has formed alliances with local community leaders and Dallas city officials to fight social injustice, domestic violence, and poverty. He worked with the Center for Responsible Lending in order to fight economic predators in Texas and across the nation that engage in predatory lending. Under the previous presidential administration, Dr. Haynes was frequently invited to the White House in order to address issues ranging from the state of the economy to voting and civil rights. He was publicly applauded by President Barack Obama for the THR!VE Intern and Leadership Program. Birthed from the vision of Dr. Haynes, Friendship-West founded the THR!VE Intern and Leadership Program. During the first year, the THR! VE Intern and Leadership Program employed nearly 100 young black males between the ages of 16-19. Since its inception, the program has expanded and now employs both young men and women. The young people currently intern with local businesses and the church, are paid a rate above minimum wage, and receive mentoring while engaging in community service.
As further reflection of his commitment to community transformation and social consciousness, Dr. Haynes serves in various leadership capacities in organizations that champion social change and education. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He is the author of Healing Our Broken Village, which seeks to address the issues that have contributed to broken communities and lives, and Soul Fitness, an inspirational and motivational daily devotional. Dr. Haynes is married to Debra Peek-Haynes and they are the proud parents of Abeni Jewel Haynes.
Dr. Haynes continued his education at Bishop College in Dallas, TX and graduated, with honors in 1982 with a B.A. degree in Religion and English. While a student at Bishop College, he also became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. In 1996, he earned a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 2005, Dr. Haynes received his Doctorate in Ministry from the Graduate Theological Foundation where he was afforded the opportunity to study at Christ Church, Oxford University in Oxford, England.
Rev. Dr. Earl B. Mason, Sr. is co-founder and former senior pastor of Bible-Based Fellowship Church of Tampa, FL. In 1998, he founded Bible-Based Fellowship Church of Temple Terrace, FL where he serves as its Senior Pastor. Dr. Mason holds a BA in elementary education from Florida A&M University. He also obtained an MA and a Doctor of Theology from Cornerstone University Theological Seminary. Dr. Mason serves as a trustee for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. and is a member of the University of South Florida, College of Education Development Board.
Reverend Dr. Joe Samuel Ratliff is a native of Lumberton, North Carolina; where in 1962, he began his Christian journey with Mt. Sinai United Holy Church of Lumberton. Seven years later, he answered his call to ministry while attending Morehouse College. He served as pastor of the Cobb Memorial United Holy Church in Atlanta, Georgia for eight years.
Dr. Ratliff was elected as pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church of Houston, Texas, in February 1980, and by the year 2000, it had grown from a 500-member congregation to a mega-church of 12,000. The congregation has reached a plateau of more than 7,000 members with over 5,000 worshipers attending its two Sunday morning worship services.
Dr. Ratliff has distinguished himself as a scholar-pastor in the African-American tradition of preaching and has sought excellence in numerous endeavors. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia, a Master of Divinity degree earned in 1975 and Doctor of Ministry degree earned in 1976 from the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), Atlanta, Georgia. He received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree, also awarded by ITC. He has done Post-Doctoral work at Harvard Divinity School as a Charles Merrill Fellow.
Dr. Ratliff is the first African American pastor to lead the Union Baptist Association, the largest urban Southern Baptist organization in the United States representing more than 500 churches and missions. He has been named “Minister of the Year” by the National Conference of Christians and Jews and is founding president of the National African-American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Dr. Ratliff was inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia. He was the keynote speaker for the 2002 Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., and is a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
In addition to trustee on the Executive Board for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc., Dr. Ratliff has been chairman of the Board of Trustees of Morehouse School of Religion in Atlanta, Georgia since 1996 and former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia. He is member of the Board of Directors for Houston Graduate School of Theology, Houston, Texas, and the Board of Directors for the Washington D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Project Foundation, Inc., and founding board member of Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
Dr. Ratliff co-authored of Church Planting in the African-American Community.
Dr. Ratliff has been married to the former Doris Ernestine Gardner since 1980.
www.brentwoodbaptist.org
Rev. Dr. Gina Marcia Stewart is a pastor, preacher, visionary, builder, mentor, adjunct professor, and daughter of Christ Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. She has led the congregation of Christ Missionary Baptist Church, where she was baptized and mentored for ministry by her predecessor and former pastor, the Rev. Eddie L Currie. She is the first African American female elected to serve an established African American Baptist congregation in Memphis and Shelby County.
Dr. Stewart has earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Marketing from the University of Memphis. She received a Master of Education in Administration and Supervision from Trevecca Nazarene College in Nashville, Tennessee and a Master of Divinity degree from Memphis Theological Seminary. Rev. Stewart also attended the Harvard Divinity School Summer Leadership Institute for Church Based Community and Economic Development. She received the Doctor of Ministry degree from the ITC-Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia and a PhD in African American Preaching from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Dr. Stewart has received numerous honors and awards for her outstanding service to the church and the community such as Outstanding Citizen of the Year from Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Community Service Award from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Pastor of the Year Award (medium size church) from the Gospel Bridge Awards, and The World’s Most Loved Pastors (November/December 2005-Gospel Today magazine) and the Women of Wisdom award from the Women’s Foundation of Greater Memphis. She received the Pastor of the Year award from Citizens for Better Service and was the first female to receive the prestigious Carter G. Woodson Award from Southwest Community College. She has received the Living Legends Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the community, the Class of 2017 Women of Excellence Award from the Tri-State Defender and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Memphis Juneteenth Festival.
Dr. Stewart’s work been featured in numerous books and publications such as Audacity of Faith: Christian Leaders Reflect on the Election of Barack Obama, What We Love About the Black Church: Can We Get A Witness? and Black Practical Theology. She has been featured in Gospel Today, Spirit magazine, Soul Sanctuary, a desktop documentary of the essential highlights of the African American worship experiences across denominations nationwide, and The African American Pulpit, a quarterly journal that serves as a repository for the very best of African American preaching and provides practical and creative resources for persons in ministry.
She has served as a team leader for the Pastoral Excellence Program for Lott Carey International, a development and advocacy organization, as adjunct faculty for Memphis Theological Seminary and as faculty mentor for United Theological Seminary Doctor of Ministry Program. She is currently a Visiting Professor of Practical Theology for the Samuel D. Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University.
Dr. Stewart was recently inducted into the Martin Luther King Board of Preachers and elected to serve on the National Board of the NAACP. In 2015, she was elected to serve as the Second Vice-President for Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention. She also serves as a member of the Advisory Council for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, Co-Convener for the Women in Ministry Conference-Dr. Cynthia L. Hale, Convener and a Trustee for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Pastors Conference. She is a former board member of the Advisory Board for The African American Pulpit, The National Civil Rights Museum and Bread for the World. Dr. Stewart is the founder of Greater Works Inc. a non-profit organization devoted to philanthropy and ministry development. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. In September 2015, she released her first book entitled We’ve Got Next: HERstory in HIStory.
Under Dr. Stewart’s leadership, CMBC has experienced significant numerical, physical and financial
www.christmbc.org
Rev. Anthony L. Trufant serves as the Senior Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church of Brooklyn, NY. The Brooklyn, New York-based preaching, teaching and outreach ministry of the Rev. Anthony L. Trufant stretches from New York City to New Orleans, from Haiti’s hovels to the up-from-apartheid townships of South Africa and beyond.
His Bible-based worldview and Christ-centered activism have been shaped, in part, by his Chicago boyhood and by spending the balance of his youth in San Francisco. At that city’s noted, community-changing Third Baptist Church, Rev. Trufant interned under the Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.
The apprenticeship further fueled Rev. Trufant’s belief that the church of Jesus Christ must be actively engaged in the liberation struggle and survival of the entire human family, especially people of African descent. That group is predominately, yet not exclusively, comprised of blacks from the USA, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and Africa and is the bulk of his 4,000-member Emmanuel Baptist Church in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood. Appointed as Emmanuel’s pastor in November 1990, he has overseen its exponential growth in membership and programming and raised its profile as one of the most innovative, effective “glocal” churches in the Metro New York area.
A sought-after workshop facilitator, church consultant, and leadership development specialist, Rev. Trufant is the recipient of numerous civic and religious awards. He also was inducted into the Morehouse College of Ministers; profiled by author David Ritz’s critically acclaimed’ “The Messengers;” and had his “Worship That Pleases God” published in Oxford Sermons, Volume 3. He has been active in the Dallas, Texas-based, nationally focused Leadership Network. Additionally, he contributed a chapter on “Creativity In Preaching”, in “Living Under an Imposed Sentence”, a book published in honor of one of his mentors, Dr. Charles Booth, Senior Pastor of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church of Columbus, OH.
He is a graduate of Morehouse College (BA), Colgate Rochester Divinity School (MDiv), and Seton Hall University (MA) and was licensed to preach in July 1981 and ordained in May of 1988 by Third Baptist in San Francisco. Currently a doctoral student in Transformational Leadership at Bakke Graduate School in Dallas, TX, he is a certified Conflict Resolution Mediator. Rev. Trufant has received a diploma in pastoral counseling from Post Graduate Center for Mental Health and has completed coursework towards a doctorate (ABD) at Hebrew Union College.
He is married to Muriel Goode-Trufant, the Managing Attorney for NYC Law Department, and is the proud father of two young adult daughters, Sharise and Toni.
www.ebcconnects.com
Robin P. Williams worked as a food and office clerk at the Georgetown Safeway in Washington, D.C. for 13 years where she was a union member of UFCW Local 400. In 1986, she began her union activism as a safety coordinator and shop steward for the Local. She was a leader in signing up members for UFCW Active Ballot Club. In 1995 and 1996, she worked as a Special Project Union Representative with the Local to help sign up non-members in the “right to work” state of Virginia. Later she worked with the Local’s organizing team to bring a voice on the job to nursing home workers in Maryland. In 1997, Robin became a full-time organizer and union representative with UFCW Local 400.
In 2003, she was a lead coordinator in the “Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride,” which brought together tens of thousands of immigrant workers and immigrant rights activists in a tour throughout the United States to demand respect for immigrant workers rights. She was appointed Community Affairs Coordinator at the Strategic Affairs Department of Local 400 in 2004, where she was responsible for developing community and religious allies for organizing, collective bargaining, fighting Walmart, and educating the public about UFCW issues. In July 2005, Robin became the Associate Director of the Civil Rights and Community Action Department and was elected International Vice President in February 2015.
As a community leader, she helped develop the DC Jobs with Justice Interfaith Worker’s Coalition and the DC Workers’ Rights Board. She serves as an Executive Vice President of the UFCW Minority Coalition and is a trustee on the board of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. Robin is also a board member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI), and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (SDP).
Robin has received numerous awards and honors for her tireless efforts on behalf of workers and communities. She has been recognized by the AFL-CIO Washington Metropolitan Central Labor Council, Jobs with Justice, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and has received the NAACP “Keeper of the Flame” award.
http://www.ufcw.org/2016/02/23/black-history-month-spotlight-an-interview-with-robin-williams-ufcw-international-vice-president/
Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson is a pastor, philanthropist and activist pursuing God’s vision of community marked by justice, peace and love. He is president & CEO of Deaconess Foundation and board chair for the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP).
Deaconess is a faith-based grant making organization supporting a movement for child well-being in St. Louis through philanthropy, advocacy and organizing for racial equity and public policy change. Since 1998, the Foundation has invested more than $85 million to advance its mission. In 2018, Deaconess completed construction and opened the Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being, a community action tank. In its first year, more than 13,000 citizens leveraged the facility to build power for children and families. Deaconess sponsors a network of congregation-based Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools.
From 2008 through 2018, Dr. Wilson pastored Saint John’s Church (The Beloved Community), an inter-racial, inner-city congregation. There he led activism on myriad issues while more than quadrupling worship attendance and annual giving. He also established The Beloved Community Conference to resource social justice ministries and Sojourner’s Truth: Celebration of Preaching Women.
After the police killing of Michael Brown, Jr., Wilson led the Ferguson Commission. In 2015, they released the ‘Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity’ Report, calling for sweeping changes in policing, the courts, child well-being and economic mobility. In addition to NCRP, he serves boards for Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Chicago Theological Seminary, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, St. Louis Children’s Hospital and the Forum for Theological Exploration. Rev. Wilson is an advisor to the Democracy Fund, Let America Vote and the National Voter Protection Action Fund.
Dr. Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Xavier University of Louisiana, master of divinity from Eden Theological Seminary and the doctor of ministry degree from Duke University’s Divinity School. For his public theology and ministry, he was awarded doctor of public service and doctor of divinity degrees honoris causa by Saint Louis University and Eden Theological Seminary. A member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Starsky is married to Dr. LaToya Smith Wilson, a dentist for St. Louis Children’s Hospital. They are raising four children in St. Louis.
Considered a “preacher par excellence,” Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. is the retired pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ where he was pastor for 36 years, 1972-2008. His parents – Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Sr. and Dr. Mary Henderson Wright – were his earliest influences, instilling in him the possibility of balancing the intellectual with the spiritual. Armed with this philosophical upbringing, Dr. Wright pastored Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ since 1972, seeing its membership grow from eighty-seven adult members to a congregation of nearly 10,000. Dr. Wright’s early education took place in Philadelphia’s public schools. From there, he went on to earn a B.A. and M.A. from Howard University, an M.A. from the University of Chicago and a doctorate in divinity from United Theological College, where he studied under the eminent late Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor.
Dr. Wright takes seriously not only the call to worship but also the call to take action as mandated by the Gospel. Wright, who began the “Ministers in Training” program at Trinity United Church of Christ, has been a national leader in promoting theological education and the preparation of seminarians for the African-American church. The church’s mission statement is based upon systematized black theology that started with the works of James Hal Cone.
Prior to his pastorate, Trinity had adopted the motto “Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian” and Dr. Wright set out to make activism within and on behalf of the African American community a key aspect of the church’s mission. An outspoken community leader, Wright has been vocal in making once-taboo issues, such as AIDS, a priority within the African American church leadership and service. His commitment to political activism coupled with his dedication to the African American sermonic tradition has made him a highly sought-after speaker nationally and internationally.
Wright is the recipient of numerous awards, including three honorary doctorates and three presidential commendations. An accomplished musician and author, Dr. Wright has written four books, numerous articles and countless sermons and was voted one of Ebony Magazine’s top fifteen preachers. In addition to national and international ministry, Wright serves on several boards of directors and committees. Married to Rev. Dr. Ramah Reed Wright, Dr. Wright has five children and three grandchildren.