About
The Passing the Mantle Institute, founded in 2006 with a generous grant from The James Irvine Foundation, worked to empower clergy and lay leaders to expand their vision for community development and social engagement projects.
PTM was a program of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California.
Leadership Team
- Rev. Dr. Cecil “Chip” Murray, Co-Principal Investigator
- Prof. Donald E. Miller, Co-Principal Investigator
- Rev. Mark Whitlock, Co-Director
- Rev. Najuma Smith, Alumni President
- Ms. Brie Loskota, CRCC Managing Director
- Ms. Sumaya Abubaker, Program Manager
- Rev. Frank Jackson, Community Outreach Coordinator
Past Speakers
The PTM Clergy and Lay Leadership Institute has had the privilege of including the following list of distinguished speakers since its founding:
- Dr. Raphael Bostic, USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development
- Ms. Cheryl Ann Branch, Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches
- Rev. Jeff Carr, Los Angeles Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development
- Rev. Dr. Monica A. Coleman, Claremont School of Theology
- Dr. George C. L. Cummings, Imani Community Church
- Min. Lonnie Dawson, New Mt. Calvary Baptist Church of Los Angeles
- Ms. Alicia Dixon, The California Endowment
- Bishop Yvette Flunder, Refuge Ministries and The Fellowship
- Mr. Robert Gnaizda, Greenlining Institute
- Rev. Dr. James Lawson, Holman United Methodist Church
- Rev. Leonard Jackson, Office of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
- Rev. James Jones, Jr., Gangsters for Christ
- Ms. Edina Lekovic, Muslim Public Affairs Council
- Ms. Mary Lee, PolicyLink
- Dr. LaVonna Lewis, USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development
- Mr. Alfred Lomas, Dream Center
- Dr. Lawrence Mamiya, Vassar College
- Dr. Juan Martinez, Fuller Theological Seminary
- The Right Rev. Dr. Vashti Murphy McKenzie, Bishop of the 13th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
- Ms. Noreen McClendon, Concerned Citizens of South Central Los Angeles
- Dr. Aldon Morris, Northwestern University
- Rev. Clyde Oden, Jr., Bryant Temple AME Church
- Rev. George Regas, All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena
- Ms. Constance L. Rice, Co-Director, Advancement Project
- The Hon. Dr. Mark Ridley-Thomas, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
- Dr. Robert K. Ross, The California Endowment
- Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, American Baptist Seminary of the West
- Dr. R. Drew Smith, The Leadership Center at Morehouse College
- Mr. Arnie Sowell, Office of California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass
- Dr. Michelle Stewart-Thomas, Mt. San Antonio College
- Dr. Harold Dean Trulear, Howard University and President,GLOBE Community Ministries
- Dr. Ralph Watkins, Fuller Theological Seminary
- Ms. Carolyn Webb de Macias, University of Southern California
- Dr. Linda Wharton-Boyd, The Wharton Group
- Dr. Leslie R. White, Grant AME Church in Los Angeles
- Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., Trinity United