Six New Haven Leaders to be Honored at Yale

Yale Divinity School Dean Richard J. Wood announced this week that six New Haven residents have been elected Coffin-Forsberg Fellows for the 1997-98 academic year. The non-monetary Fellowships honor the recipients’ service to the community and engage them in the life of the Divinity School. This year’s Fellows will be honored at an installation ceremony at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23, in the Divinity School’s Marquand Chapel, 409 Prospect St. The event is free and the public is welcome.

The Fellows, chosen by the Divinity School general faculty at its May meeting, are:

* Thomas Ficklin, publisher and editor-in-chief of “Inner City,” a weekly newspaper focusing on the African-American community in New Haven. He is a 1975 graduate of the Yale Divinity School and is active in many organizations serving the greater New Haven area.

* The Rev. Louise Higginbotham, senior minister of the United Church on the Green. Active in issues that involve children and families, she has been instrumental in establishing the New Haven Stand for Children and the Interfaith Budget Watch. The Rev. Higginbotham earned a Master of Divinity degree from Yale in 1983.

* The Rev. Kevan Hitch, pastor of the First and Summerfield United Methodist Church. He has been chosen for his leadership in Elm City Congregations Organizing ECCO and in the Interfaith Cooperative Ministries formerly Downtown Cooperative Ministries.

* Charles Henry Jefferson is founder, pastor and coordinator of the “Sandwich Ministry,” a grass-roots church designed to bring education, spiritual aid, and a sense of community to homeless people in New Haven. Each week from October through May, about 75 homeless men, women, and children gather for worship in the United Church parish house. During the summer, they meet on the New Haven Green. Following worship, the congregation joins in a communal meal. Mr. Jefferson recently extended his ministry by forming a housing program called “God’s Homes.”

* The Rev. Betsy Lewis, deacon at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and supervisor of the church’s outreach programs focusing on the needs of women and children. St. Luke’s offers a luncheon meal program for homeless and low-income women as well as educational opportunities to strengthen parenting skills and enhance employment eligibility.

* Al Marder, director of the Amistad Project and a long-time New Haven activist, formerly with the New Haven Labor Council. A Jewish layman, Mr. Marder is best known as an ecumenical worker, bringing together persons of many faiths to focus on community needs.

The Coffin-Forsberg Fellows in Urban and Social Ministry program was created by the Yale Divinity School general faculty in 1995. The program is designed to increase the School’s commitment to urban and social ministry and to honor those who are called to work for social justice in the parish and in the world.

The program is named for William Sloane Coffin, former Yale University Chaplain, and for Joan Bates Forsberg, former associate dean of students at the Divinity School.

For further information about the Divinity School, contact Lisa Meeder Turnbull, coordinator of graduate and external relations, 432-5033. For more about the Coffin-Forsberg Fellows, call Anita Bradshaw, director of Supervised Ministries, 432-5314.