Rev. Starsky Wilson, president of Deaconess Foundation and a pastor in the prophetic tradition that seems so appropriate these days, has shown bold leadership in allocating $100,000 in grants to groom youth organizers and emerging African-American leaders in the St. Louis region. He tells us this initiative grew from his reflection on the crisis in Ferguson, which showed us a generation of raw youth and a cadre of young leaders with potential that could be developed into transformative change agents. “I had to admit,” Rev. Wilson told us, “this was a situation where we needed something more than more social services.”
The young people in Ferguson, and the mostly young adults who stood up with them, point toward both the need and the possibility for change in this region. Their energy gives Rev. Wilson and other civic leaders in our community some hope for a future with stronger black leadership that elevates our community above the distressing conditions we see now in some of our neighborhoods and that was documented in such stark detail earlier this year in the landmark “For the Sake of All” report. In such a future, there would not be a need for more social services, there would be a need for less social services, because there would be more social equity, less poverty and more widespread well being.
That future is not here, and more is required of us to make it happen. In the meantime, there is the United Way of Greater St. Louis, a vital agency that funds social service providers. Moreover, they have a strong history of local African-American participation and leadership. That history was celebrated on Saturday, when United Way CEO Orv Kimbrough, staff, donors and volunteers celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Charmaine Chapman Society, the United Way’s African-American Leadership Giving Initiative, which leads all such initiatives in the United Way nationwide in minority philanthropy.
Charmaine Chapman was a transformational president and chief executive officer for the United Way from February 1994 until her death in July 2001. The first woman and first African American to head the United Way, she led the organization toward a new emphasis on the entire St. Louis metropolitan area. This inspirational leader said, “I believe if you live in a community, you’ve got to pay attention to the quality of life and be a part of making it happen.”
Although we played a role in founding the initiative in 1994, it has been the thousands of African Americans who have shown both leadership and giving during 20 years of helping to provide support for those in need in our community that have sustained and grown this program. The Charmaine Chapman Society has raised $26.4 million for the United Way – $26.4 million for the neediest among us – since 1994.
A whopping $1 million is being given, in this historic anniversary year, by former Charmaine Chapman Society chairs David and Thelma Steward, who announced on Saturday an annual $1 million pledge to the United Way of Greater St. Louis – making the Stewards the first African Americans to donate a gift of that size. “We hope this occasion encourages other families to give more to help more people through United Way,” the Stewards said.
We are challenged by the legacy of Charmaine Chapman and the Stewards – and by Rev. Wilson – to do more for our community. Now even more of our people need and deserve our commitment and support, and we must respond to the need.
For more information on United Way’s 2014 campaign and the African American Leadership – Charmaine Chapman Society, visit www.HelpingPeople.org.
