Earl A. Neil Appointed to CAHD Staff
Diocesan Press Service. February 5, 1974 [74038]
GREENWICH, Conn. -- The Rev. Earl A. Neil, rector of St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, Oakland, Calif., has been appointed to the staff of the Committee for Community Action and Human Development (CAHD). The appointment was announced here to the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church by the Rt. Rev. John E. Hines, Presiding Bishop.
CAHD, one of the five agencies in the newly established Mission Service and Strategy (MSS), has replaced the Screening and Review Committee of the General Convention Special Program (GCSP), which was phased out on December 31, 1973.
In the staff section on MSS, which coordinates the Episcopal Church's program and grant concerns for racial and ethnic minorities, CAHD makes decisions on all community oriented grant applications from the Black community.
Mr. Neil, 38, is a native of St. Paul, Minn., and received his B.A. degree in sociology in 1957 from Carleton College, Northfield, Minn. He received his M. Div. degree from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill., in 1960, and his M.S.W. degree in community organization and social planning from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1973.
Before coming to St. Augustine's in 1967, Mr. Neil served parishes in Wichita, Kans., and Chicago. He has also been lecturer at Laney Community College, Oakland, and the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1970 Mr. Neil was a member of the Agenda Committee of the General Convention and attended the Special General Convention II in South Bend, Ind., in 1969 and the Convention in Houston, Tex., in 1970, as a special representative.
He has served on committees and commissions in the Diocese of California and has hold positions in the Union of Black Episcopalians and the National Committee of Black Churchmen.
He was a voter registration worker in McComb, Miss., in 1964, a coordinator of the Selma-to-Montgomery, Ala., march in 1965, and a worker in the Woodlawn Organization and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 's drive for open housing in Chicago.
He has been advisor to the Welfare Rights Organization in Oakland, the West Oakland Health Center and the Berkeley Youth Alternatives, an organization counselling and finding foster homes for runaway youth.
Mr. Neil has been spiritual advisor to members of the Black Panther Party and their families. In this role he has interpreted the program and goals of the Party to constituencies in the community. He has also assisted in implementing the community survival programs of the Party, including free health clinics, an alternative school, food and clothing programs, free bussing of families of those confined in the county and state prisons, and senior citizens programs. The Panthers' Free Breakfast for School Children program originated at St. Augustine's in 1969.
In December, 1973, it was announced that Howard Quander had been appointed as one of the two staff for the CAHD.
The other four agencies in MSS are the National Committee on Indian Work, the National Commission on Hispanic Affairs, the National Commission for Black Ministries, and the national ministry with Asian American Episcopalians.