The USC Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement and the Center for Religion and Civic Culture will miss the immense contributions that Mark Whitlock has made to our collective endeavors.
Mark first came to be involved with CRCC when he was the executive director of the FAME Renaissance Center in the wake of the 1992 civil unrest. He helped lead Clergy United for Economic Development (CUED), a roundtable of faith-based community development corporations that met at CRCC.
In 2005, he was instrumental in founding the Passing the Mantle clergy leadership program that sought to infuse a community-impact orientation to the next generation of black church leaders. That program, along with other work to engage faith leaders in violence prevention, eventually led to CRCC establishing the Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement, which Mark led since its inception in 2012.
As Mark transitions to a new post at Reid Temple AME Church in Glenn Dale, Maryland, the Cecil Murray Center will continue to operate its remarkable community programs including work on organizational transformation, leadership development and building economic opportunity. The Murray Center staff and fellows will continue to work under the oversight of Rev. Murray, as well as the senior leadership team at CRCC. As we continue our programs, we will also use this moment to conduct a strategic assessment to guide the next period of the Murray Center.
