At the GCC Annual Meeting on August 22, we will be voting on four Strategy Team Members — two new and two returning. You can get to know them a little better here.
In order to proceed with the vote, one representative from each of our member organizations must be present at the Annual Meeting. Talk with your people, make a plan and register here.
Susan Reis
She will be a new strategy team member with a three-year term.
Susan Reis has been a member of GCC since its inception. She is currently a member of Temple Mishkan Or. She lives in Shaker Heights with her husband, Barry, and has four adult children. As a GCC member, she has chaired the management team (2020 to present), served as a Tri-chair of EngageGCC (2021 to present), been a member of the Pre-Trial Justice Team, served as a neighborhood captain, been a member of the Battle for Democracy, and worked on the Industrial Area Foundation’s National Gun Safety Consortium. Outside of GCC, she’s also active with the National Council of Jewish Women, Rekindle, which works to improve Black-Jewish relations, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, and the Shaker Democratic Club.
Rabbi Steve Segar, Kol HaLev
He is a strategy team member renewing for a three-year term.
Rabbi Steve Segar was ordained in 1995 from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia and has served for nearly two and a half decades as the spiritual leader of Congregation Kol HaLev (Voice of the Heart) in Pepper Pike, OH. His interests include Interfaith and inter-cultural dialogue and the current conversation about the relationship between science and religion. Rabbi Steve has been involved with interfaith relations in the Cleveland area since he arrived in 1995, having served on the board of Interact-Cleveland. This interfaith social group promoted dialogue between faiths and service vulnerable populations, and he is currently an active member of his congregation, along with Greater Cleveland Congregations.
Dr. Jawanza Karriem Colvin, Pastor, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church
Rev. Colvin is a strategy team member renewing for a three-year term. He has played a vital role in GCC’s early issue campaigns in criminal justice, and he’s currently a Tri-chair for the Pre-trial justice steering team Pre-trial justice steering team. He helped to lead GCC Color of Health initiative.
Dr. Jawanza Karriem Colvin is the sixth pastor of the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland. As servant-leader of this 4,000-member congregation, Pastor Colvin follows in its historic tradition of community builders, preacher-scholars and social activists.
Pastor Colvin is a cum laude graduate of Morehouse College, having received a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) with a double major in History and Religion. He earned a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City and holds a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) from Columbia University.
A proponent of Christian praxis, Pastor Colvin has sought to integrate personal devotion and critical reflection into a social action and transformation ministry. He has been a voice in the pulpit and an activist in the community on justice, equity and reform.
Pastor Colvin has distinguished himself as a clergy and civic leader, receiving numerous honors and citations and noting his commitment to Christian ministry, scholarship, and service. Among his recognitions include induction in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers of Morehouse College, the William Augustus Jones Social Justice Award at the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the National Action Network in New York City, and being named to the Cleveland Power 100 as one of the most influential individuals in Northeast Ohio.
Committed to service in the public square and within sacred walls, Pastor Colvin continues to serve on numerous community and faith-based organization boards, advisory boards, committees and working groups. He was a founding co-chair of Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC), the largest multi-racial, interfaith social justice coalition in Northeast Ohio, and serves on the board of the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Greater Cleveland Food Bank, The Martha Jennings Holdings Foundation, and the Saint Luke’s Foundation.
Pastor Colvin is married to the lovely Allison Jaynes Colvin. Together, they are the proud parents of two sons, Asher and Philip.
Rev. Ryan Wallace, Senior Pastor, Fairmount Presbyterian Church
He will be a new member of the GCC strategy team with a three-year term.
Ryan is a quad-chair of the youth bindover team and has been vital in working with the team to develop our strategy to push for change in the Cuyahoga County juvenile justice system.
After growing up in the Chicago suburbs, Ryan attended Vanderbilt University, where he met his wife, Amanda. They moved to Chicago when Ryan began studying at McCormick Theological Seminary.
Halfway through seminary, Ryan felt the Spirit calling him into community-based social justice ministry. Ryan graduated with a Master of Theological Studies and spent several years in community organizing and public policy at two faith-based non-profits: Community Renewal Society and Interfaith Worker Justice. Ryan worked on many justice issues at the city, county, state, and federal levels, including violence prevention, education funding reform, wage theft, restorative justice, tax policy, reentry and recidivism, and police reform.
In addition to Ryan’s community organizing experience, he served five PC (USA) congregations – most recently as Associate Pastor for Faith Formation at the First Presbyterian Church of Libertyville in Illinois. Ryan loves every aspect of congregational ministry, but he loves the most the people. “The call of a pastor – to walk alongside people of all ages and backgrounds in their spiritual journeys – is a blessing that defies description,” he says.
Ryan also has a strong entrepreneurial streak. He has been involved in three church plants in Chicago (including one that raised money by brewing beer) and has been working to foster connections between churches and social entrepreneurs over the past two years. He’s served on the Small Business Growth Initiative launch team at the Lake County Community Foundation. He is also the co-founder of The Spiritual Entrepreneurship Lab. This ecumenical project aims to align the mission and resources of churches and social entrepreneurs to create new and innovative ways of doing Church and business.
Ryan has served in other leadership roles to support the Church, including a term on the Mission Committee of the Chicago Presbytery during its relaunch, redesigning a model to distribute more than $250,000 each year in grants. Ryan has also served on the Board of Directors for the Inclusive Collective, a progressive Christian campus ministry focused on serving LGBTQ young adults in Chicago. He is also a fellow at the Ecumenical Center for Clergy Spiritual Renewal at Holy Wisdom Monastery.