On Tuesday, September 24, Rev. Jermaine Ross-Allam, director of the PC(USA)’s Center for the Repair of Historic Harms will visit Cleveland to help unveil Forest Hill Church’s (FHC) Educational Equity Program: a racial repair initiative focused on creating greater financial equity among Black female college graduates by helping to eliminate their college debt. FHC has committed $36,000 to launch the program and pledged $10,000 annually to continue funding it. The PC(USA) is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the country.
Rev. Ross-Allam’s two-day visit to Cleveland includes a September 24 gathering at FHC (6 pm, 3031 Monticello Blvd., Cleveland Heights), when he will explain the mission of the Center or Repair of Historic Harms and address how our greater community can support FHC’s racial repair initiative as it reaches out to other congregations in the region who are also addressing racial justice concerns.
PRESS EVENT: 3:00-4:00pm, Q&A @ FHC, Sanctuary – Explanation of what it means to repair historic harms and announcement of FHC’s Repair Program
PUBLIC CELEBRATION: A New Beginning: 6:00-8:00pm, FHC Fellowship Hall (off parking lot): announcing FHC’s Educational Equity Program, sharing the journey and steps forward.
This initiative is open to other congregations, organizations, and individuals in the greater Cleveland area interested in participating financially to support this racial equity work. Forest Hill Church acknowledges the role it played in perpetuating systemic racism. We recognize our complicity, offer heartfelt repentance, and now begin the process of repair. Congregations interested in collaborating with FHC can engage in selecting beneficiaries for the loan assumption repair program and in developing other phases of repair. For more information, contact Sonji Kenyatta or the church office.