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23 May 1996 
 
 
 
96194          Self-development of People Committee 
                Welcomes  New Officers And Members 
 
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
OCHO RIOS, Jamaica--At its May 15-20 meeting here, the National 
Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP) welcomed 
its new chair and vice chair, both of whom will serve for a period of  at 
least one year. The group also welcomed three new committee members. 
 
     Cindy Joe of San Francisco assumed the office of chair. Oscar Heyward 
of Howard Beach, N.Y., assumed the office of vice chair. Both officers were 
elected in January. 
 
     A former chair of the General Assembly Committee on Representation, 
Joe is a ruling elder and member of the Presbyterian Church in Chinatown in 
San Francisco. She is the first woman to be chair of the Asian Caucus of 
the National Asian Presbyterian Council and currently serves on the board 
of the Chinese Community Housing Corporation in San Francisco. According to 
Frederic T. Walls, SDOP coordinator, Joe is also the first Asian American 
woman to chair SDOP's National Committee. 
 
     "It looks like we still have a lot of work ahead of us in getting 
SDOP's message out to the people," Joe said. "And I'm looking forward to 
helping get that message out."  
 
     Heyward is currently chair of SDOP's Northeast Task Force and has 
served on the organization's certification, personnel and review 
committees. He is a ruling elder at Denton Presbyterian Church in Queens, 
New York, and served as financial secretary and pastor nominating committee 
chair of his church when it called its current pastor in 1993. 
 
     "[SDOP] has been a very positive experience and I hope to use my 
professional background experiences to serve as vice chair of this 
committee," Heyward told the Presbyterian News Service. 
 
     SDOP also welcomed its three new National Committee members. They are 
Toshio (Tosh) Akita of Hollister, Calif., Mary Ann Walt of Solon Springs, 
Wis. (both class of 1997), and Lea Ward of Sonoita, Ariz. (class of 1998). 
 
     The committee also thanked and honored its five outgoing members: the 
Rev. Betsy Alden of Albuquerque, N.M.; Nancy Boutelle of Beloit, Wis.; Max 
Cordova  of Chimayo, N.M.; Olga O.  Hawkins of Inglewood, Calif.; and Susan 
Freed-Held of Colton, Ore. 
 
     "We salute the outgoing class of 1996 and thank them and are grateful 
for what they have done for us," Walls said. 
 
     While in Jamaica, the committee visited several projects in Kingston 
and Montego Bay to establish people-to-people contacts with groups that 
have submitted funding proposals to SDOP.  The purpose of the visits was to 
confirm the condition, leadership, possible solutions and potential of the 
projects and resources outlined in the proposals. 
 
     Walls said that in addition to being a mandatory SDOP requirement, the 
on-site visits also help committee members understand the SDOP ministry, 
learn from the people visited and coordinate SDOP's work with other funding 
ministries of the church. Ground transportation and planning of the group's 
itinerary were provided by the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman 
Islands. 
  
 
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