“We really wanted to honor him with something that would represent his work for racial reconciliation and his passion for helping young people move into ministries of compassion and justice,” says Catherine Gilliard, president of the African-American Ministers Association.
Members of the associations hope that the experience will foster closer connections among young people across the groups so that their generation will not have to overcome as many obstacles to living well together, Gilliard says.
Each association will raise the money to fund their portion of the scholarship and determine eligibility for its recipients, Gilliard says. The scholarships will be given annually, with the first to be offered this fall.
Journey to Mosaic is modeled after the Covenant’s Sankofa Journey, which focuses on African-American and Anglo relations. It is designed to raise awareness of the experiences of Hispanics, Asian-Americans, African-Americans and Anglos, Gilliard says.
Over the course of three days, one young person from each of the ethnic associations will experience the Journey by touring the sites of historic Black Panther Party activities in Oakland, migrant farm workers’ camps in the fertile Central Valley of California, the Japanese-American National Museum in Los Angeles, and the Fred Jordan Mission for the homeless on Los Angeles’ skid row.
The associations announced the scholarships during their joint meeting attended by Palmberg during the Midwinter Pastors Conference in January. Other association presidents are Greg Yee, Asian-American Fellowship; Samuel Galdamez, Hispanic Pastors Association; Samuel Jung, Korean Pastors Association; and Hugh Forbes, Alaskan Fellowship.
