Passing The Mantle Institute Graduation Speech

1 Passing The Mantle Institute Graduation Speech

USC School of Religion and Civic Culture/November 10, 2010

PASSING THE MANTLE (PTM) CLERGY AND LAY

INSTITUTE

USC SCHOOL OF RELIGION AND CIVIC CULTURE

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

GRADUATION SPEECH BY:

LYDIA A. HOLLIE, JD, MAED

2010 PTM FELLOW



PASSING THE MANTLE (PTM) CLERGY AND LAY INSTITUTE

USC SCHOOL OF RELIGION AND CIVIC CULTURE

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

GRADUATION SPEECH BY:

LYDIA A. HOLLIE, JD, MAED

2010 PTM FELLOW

Good Afternoon,

Foremost, I give honor to God, and thank him for His Son, Jesus Christ, who

gave His life so that I may life abundantly.

Congratulations PTM Class of 2010! In the spirit of friendship, family, and

community service, let us always be mindful to “never underestimate the power of our

actions…with one small gesture we can change a person’s life. God puts us all of in

each others lives to impact one another in some way.” We were joined together to

struggle and achieve a new milestone in our lives so that His will is done on earth as it

is in heaven. Today’s graduation ceremony is the embodiment of this declaration.

Admittedly, upon receiving word from Rev. Mark Whitlock of my selection as one

of the speakers came as a complete surprise because I imagined someone other myself

standing before you. Thank you, my fellow graduates, for honoring me as your

graduation speaker today.

We are sincerely grateful to our families and friends for their encouragement

while we have labored to acquire the knowledge and skill-set that are vital to repairing

the fragile social fabric that weaves our communities together. Thank you being our

support system and cheering us on until we reached this day of graduation. After today,

the real work begins and your support and encouragement will be needed more than



ever before.

We honor and are profoundly grateful to ("Speak Truth to Power") Rev. Dr. Cecil

"Chip" Murray, (Think Strategically and Walk with Boldness), Rev. Mark Whitlock,

(Raise Your Prophetic Voice to Advocate Public Policy Change) Rev. Eugene Williams,

and (Build Your Organization on a Solid Foundation) Rev. Frank Jackson. Thank you

for your visionary, transformational leadership with the establishment of the Passing

The Mantle (PTM) Clergy and Lay Leadership Institute. Also, we thank the USC School

of Religion and Civic Culture for providing the ideal environment in which PTM Fellows

are not only educated at a state of the art campus, but are welcomed members of the

USC community. Many thanks to The James Irvine Foundation for its incredibly

generous financial support so that the next generation of the agents of beneficial

change are fully prepared to address social, economic, and environmental justice issues

in their respective communities. Most especially, the graduates are truly grateful for Ms.

Sumaya Abubaker, a phenomenal woman, who expertly managed all the administrative

obligations and tasks associated with PTM. Sumaya, you have been the glue which

has held all of us together. Each of you are responsible for making this day possible.

Thank you all for being a stellar of example of why obedience is truly greater than

sacrifice.

What is the significance of Passing The Mantle in our lives? The significance of PTM is

demonstrative on three levels: The Mantle, Educational Experience, and Mentor

Relationships.

“Understanding The Mantle.“ In Strong's concordance, the Hebrew word

"addehreth" is a cloak made of fur or fine material, for example, a prophet's garment.

The etymology, or root, of addehreth is noble one, mighty, excellent, glorious, goodly,

gallant. The English equivalent is "mantle", garment, goodly, and robe. Dictionary.com

indicates that a synonym for mantle is cover or covering. And in Merriam-Webster,

"mantle" is defined as a loose, sleeveless garment worn over other clothes; a cloak.



This reference also represents Mantle to be a figurative cover symbolizing preeminence

or authority. So, we have the covering to walk in the authority passed on to us by our

elders who are the righteous sons of God.

The PTM Educational Experience. The Apostle Paul admonishes us in Romans

12:2, "and be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of

your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of

God.” As I reflected upon on the PTM experience, I realize that Reverends Murray,

Whitlock, Williams, and Jackson created an environment specifically designed to initiate

the process of renewing our minds and spirit through which transformational change is

accomplished.

Our collective memory vividly recalls the weeklong residential experience where

we were served and nourished with excellent classes, including, outstanding thought-

provoking lectures on civic engagement, policy advocacy, and other social, economic,

and environmental justice issues, small group collaborations, whole class discussions,

the daily walking exercise from our housing facility to Davidson Hall, and the morning

praises as well as the nightly fellowship and revivals held at The Chapel. Of course, the

meticulously prepared and delicious meals and refreshments were the perfect

compliment to our learning experience during the Institute.

Albert Einstein concluded, "You can't solve a problem from the same

consciousness that created it." Brainstorming and formulating new thoughts and

examining modern day solutions to age-old problems were particularly demanding. Yet,

since this summer in July, we forged ahead reminded by the immortal words of the

venerable Frederick Douglass, "where there is no struggle, there is no progress."

Indeed, as a result of PTM’s process of renewal we have entered into a zone of

heightened awareness and a deepened consciousness for each of us.

And The Mentor Relationship. Mentoring factored prominently throughout the

Institute, both on and off campus. The open door policy of the Institute's leadership was

key to building our competence and confidence to persevere through the Institute’s



curriculum to completion. Accessibility to the knowledge, wisdom, and salient advice of

the Revs. Murray, Whitlock, Williams, Jackson, and Najuna Smith-Pollard have been

pivotal to crystallizing our focus and fine-tuning our concepts and proposals for systems

and policy change.

Life’s Equation

Today, we have reached another milestone in our lives and it has been

simultaneously exciting and life-affirming. As a result of PTM, we are ready, willing, and

fully capable to continue this journey of civic engagement and policy advocacy with the

confidence and the ability to think with greater depth and breadth about how to

effectively reconfigure of our communities in a lasting and meaningful way.

And we will do so through study and scholarship, servant-leadership, and

community service. These core principles are variables in “Life's Equation, which is,

The Events in Our Lives plus How we Respond to those Events equals The Outcome.”

As servant-leaders, each of us can reflect on the myriad of events in our respective

communities, how we have responded, and what were the outcomes.

The Event in My Life. In my Central Long Beach community where the

population is approximately 46,000, 34% live below the federal poverty level where the

annual median household income for a family of four is $21,000, and 52% of this

community subsists on $15,000 a year or less. Fifty-five percent have not completed

high school and only 9 percent are high school graduates. For decades, this area

suffered with the notoriety of having the highest violent crime rates in the city of Long

Beach. For ten years, I attended funerals, watched others enter the jail and prison

system, and observed the devastation on the family and neighborhoods where crime

scenes were a regular occurrence.

The inspirational Cesar Chavez reminds us that "we cannot seek achievement

for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community...Our

ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their



sakes and for our own." This observation lies at the heart of civic engagement which

Professor Thomas Ehrlich, a senior scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the

Advancement of Teaching, defines as "working to make a difference in the civic life of

our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and

motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community,

through both political and non-political processes." He goes on to say that, "A morally

and civically responsible individual recognizes himself or herself as a member of the a

larger social fabric and therefore consider social problems to be at least partly his or her

own; such an individual is willing to see the moral and civic dimensions of issues, to

make and justify informed moral and civic judgments, and to take action when

appropriate."

How did I Respond to the Events in My Community? My response was driven by

the realization that I have a moral and ethical responsibility to make a difference in the

quality of life in my community. Since 2002, my role in civic engagement in Long Beach

has been as a relentless advocate for effective and humane approaches to address

youth and gang violence prevention and intervention, specifically in the area of building

community capacity and empowering its members to work collaboratively to make a

qualitative difference in their collective civic lives. During my tenure as Chair of the city's

Human Relations Commission, a comprehensive report on the problem of youth and

gang violence was written, approved by the community leadership, including the Long

Beach Police Department, and unanimously adopted by the Long Beach City Council in

2003. That report called for a community based, multi-agency collaborative and the

Long Beach Youth and Gang Violence Prevention Task Force was established in 2004,

and for the three years, formalized and strengthened police-community relations. In

August 2007, the Task Force birthed the Long Beach Weed and Seed Program whose

Steering Committee envisions "Establishing Model Communities, One Neighborhood at

a Time." This Program was awarded $1 million divided equally between law

enforcement and the community over a 5-year period , and its community-based, multi-



agency Steering Committee has budgetary oversight of the expenditure of these funds.

Programmatic strategic planning lay the foundation for building the program's capacity

to navigate a paradigm shift from conventional approaches to 21st century public safety

restructuring, including, family engagement and violence prevention, workforce

development and reentry, neighborhood restoration, and targeted law enforcement and

community policing.

What has been the Outcome? Since its inception, the Long Beach Weed and

Seed Program collaborative over the past two years has: (1) achieved a 27% drop in

violent crime, (2) a reduction in gang activity and truancy citations, (3) built a

Community Peace Garden while strengthening intergenerational relationships between

our youth and community elders, (5) conducted periodic community assessments for

comprehensive planning; (6) incubated parent empowerment workshops in English,

Khmer, and Spanish as well as a Youth Development Program and (7) in March 2010,

our site was one of nine nationwide to be awarded a technical assistance grant by the

USDOJ 2010 Reentry Employment Initiative to receive in-depth training and technical

assistance with the development of a Comprehensive Reentry Services Strategic Plan

designed to aid reentrants in making a seamless transition back to the community,

which will be used as a model for citywide implementation.

Reflecting of Passing The Mantle

Based on the teachings of PTM, I understand and I am fully persuaded that

public service is a ministry of the highest calling, and it is the epitome of servant-

visionary leadership, boldness, compassion, and humility. Revs. Murray, Whitlock,

Williams, and Jackson exemplified these characteristics. As representatives of the

Passing The Mantle Institute, these men are servant-visionary leaders in action. They

work together in common union with others to serve the community’s best interests

while simultaneously envisioning and moving toward the ultimate destination. And they



have prepared us to be an example of those same quality traits in our respective

communities. As a leader in our community, we become a choreographer and facilitator

that seek to orchestrate a symphonic, harmonious, and holistic approach to developing

the human infrastructure in an ever-changing world. We are a beacon of hope and light

that shines through daily hardships and brightens the lives of others around us. PTM

has prepared and expects us to use our leadership to inform, educate, encourage,

empower, and help our communities evolve into a magnet where people will be drawn

to come and live, work, visit, or worship because the environment is growing, thriving,

and prospering. Our community is waiting on us and it places its future in our hands.

Conclusion

Finally, my fellow graduates as we continue our journey let us align ourselves

with II Timothy 1:7, "for God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and

a sound mind." Now that we have received The Mantle, we shall walk in the

preeminence of our authority, listen with our prophetic ears, raise our prophetic voices,

speak truth to power with boldness and courage, and bring peace and prosperity to the

masses. We thank God for Passing The Mantle.

Again, congratulations and may God bless each of you in your present and future

endeavors.