wfn.org | Black College Fund launches speakers' bureau

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

July 1, 2002  News media contact: Kathy Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.   10-31-71B{281}

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)-A speakers' bureau has been organized to spread the
word about the importance of supporting the United Methodist Church's 11
historically black colleges, schools and universities.

In 2001, the Lina H. McCord summer interns and ambassadors program
celebrated its 20th anniversary and initiated the idea for a Black College
Fund speaker's bureau to enhance the yearly summer program.

The bureau, launched this summer, consists of pioneers of the Lina H. McCord
intern program and alumni of historically black institutions who are
currently working in their chosen professions as well as retirees. 

Teresa E. Martin-Majors, Anthony Barrientez, Catherine Kershaw, and Jeanette
Campbell-Rogers interpreted the fund and the church-related historically
black colleges to annual conferences this spring and summer. They will be
available throughout the year to speak to local churches, college fairs,
district meetings, or any other church organization, said the Rev. Joreatha
Capers, administrator of the Black College Fund at the United Methodist
Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

All former interns, 112 and counting, will eventually be included in the
speaker's bureau, Capers said.

"Many of the former participants in the program have gone on to enter
ordained ministry, become teachers or successful business people and have
made contributions to their communities, the church, and the world," Capers
said.

The United Methodist Church created the Black College Fund in 1972, placing
a high priority on helping its historically black colleges and universities
fulfill their mission through regular apportioned support. The fund
supplements the schools' operational and capital needs.

The intern program was the brainchild of Lina H. McCord, Black College Fund
executive director from 1979 to 1985, and Paula Watson, a former staff
member of United Methodist Communications. The students travel across the
United States describing how the fund has changed their lives by enabling
them to attend college, and they emphasize the importance of churches paying
apportionments to support the fund. The students all belong to United
Methodist churches.  

Martin-Major, a graduate of Bethune-Cookman College, Daytona Beach, Fla.,
was one of the first two interns to spent 10 weeks interpreting and
promoting the fund to annual conferences in the northeast. Today she is an
educator for elementary and adult students in Miami.

Campbell-Rogers is a graduate of Meharry Medical School, Nashville, Tenn.
She works full-time in pediatric and adolescent health in Bloomfield Hills,
Mich. She also connects with her community through the youth division of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Barrientez, a graduate of Huston-Tillotson College, Austin, Tex., is the
assistant director of financial aid at the college.

Kershaw, also a graduate of Bethune-Cookman College, is assistant vice
president and director of public relations at the college.

"I never imagined myself being able to afford to attend a private
historically black institution and graduate with honors and be in a position
to give back to my wonderful institution," Barrientez said.

According to Capers, the Black College Fund Speakers Bureau will include
ethnic diversity as a way of demonstrating the demographics of
administration, faculty and student body.

For more information, e-mail the Rev. Joreatha M. Capers at
jcapers@gbhem.org or contact the Black College Fund Office, United Methodist
Board of Higher Education and 
Ministry, P.O. Box 340007, Nashville, TN 37203-0007; phone (615) 340-7378.

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United Methodist News Service
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