Forest Hill Church Presbyterian in Cleveland Heights is launching an Educational Equity Program to help Black women in its city eliminate their college debt.
The church's Racial Repair Restoration Task Force, for the past two years, has been taking a deep dive into history, looking at segregation, Jim Crow and other inequities that have impacted generations in the city.
"And realizing that history it was what does this church owe? Need to repair, to be right… to be right with ourselves to be right with our God?" said Quentin Smith, a member of Forest Hill Church for more than a decade.
Smith is one of six task force members.
"These movements begin with one small step," Smith said.
The group said the church will initially commit $36,000 to the Educational Equity Program and contribute at least $10,000 annually.
The goal is to incrementally eliminate between $35,000 to $75,000 of an individual's debt.
Smith said the focus for now is on Black women by design.
"And that is because generally when they leave college, they get paid less than everybody else (and) they also generally tend to raise families," said Quentin Smith, who's attended Forest Hill Church for more than a decade.
The online application states priority will be given to applicants who are Black and self-identify as female or non-binary.
"It will relieve an albatross of debt, which is a terribly significant issue in today's society," Smith said. "It allows them, as opposed to having to pay down debt, maybe now I can go and get a mortgage. I can look for the job that I really want to do as opposed to one that I must do. So, it gives them a degree of freedom, which is a marvelous thing."
On Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m., the task force is hosting a public celebration and information session in their fellowship hall to discuss the program and the application process.
Rev. Jermain Ross-Allam will be in attendance. He's the Director of Presbyterian Church, USA's Center for the Repair of Historic Harms. According to its website, the purpose of its office is to recognize, acknowledge and repair the harm caused to indigenous people, African Americans and other marginalized groups.
Ross-Allam said work is happening globally to address a variety of injustices.
"We still listen for what communities are calling for so that they can heal and move forward in the way that they prefer to move forward from the experience of harms that Presbyterian people have been a part of," Ross-Allam said. "For example, like the Liberian civil wars that devastated that nation at the end of the 20th Century. The Liberia Council of Churches has recently issued a call for repair to the Presbyterian Church USA in order to help them investigate how our support as a denomination for the American colonization played some role in instigating the civil wars from which that nation is still trying to recover."
Ross-Allam also mentioned work taking place in Alaska.
"Presbyterians were heavily involved in the process that led to Alaska becoming a state," Ross-Allam said. "There is a range of activities that Presbyterians engaged in in Alaska that had a horrible result of weakening and in part destroying the culture, extincting their languages and a wide range of other harms that we are now being called upon to help to pursue remedies."
Ross-Allam added that while churches need to lead the way, repair work requires allies.
"We realize that we have to get behind congressional (and) federal level movements," Ross-Allam said. "For example, the move to pass H.R, 40 and make reparations take place that can close the racial wealth gap or eliminate racial wealth disparities."
Smith has high hopes for his church's Educational Equity program and invites others to learn and potentially support their efforts.
"We see this as a spark… a catalyst," Smith said. "Our hope is that we can broaden organizations and individuals that hear the calling."
