Why should we care?
SCS’s ability to provide a quality, equitable education is being undercut by high teacher turnover and year-long teaching vacancies, as well as significant maintenance deficiencies within the schools, all of which leads to higher financial, educational, and health costs. A lack of access to wraparound services provided by qualified social workers, psychologists, and nurses inhibits the successful treatment of trauma or Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). Abuse, neglect, and trauma significantly increase the likelihood of suspensions, juvenile criminal behavior, and incarceration. With a median age four years below the national average, Memphis’s population can support economic development, but only if we provide children in our community access to opportunities and support.
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Equipping people of faith and goodwill to organize communities for systemic change through collective action.
Marco McNeil
TN Faith Organizer
Reverend McNeil is the fourth child born to Ms. Fannie McNeil. He was born in
Cleveland, OH and there he received his elementary education from St. Joseph in Collingwood and the Euclid School District before graduating from Glenville High Senior School. He has studied at Charlotte Christian College and Theological Seminary (formally New Life Theological Seminary) in Charlotte, NC. He is a Master of Divinity graduate of the Samuel Dewitt Procter School of Theology at Virginia Union University.
Since his early youth, Rev. McNeil has always been in the ministry of the church. At Starlight Missionary Baptist Church, in East Cleveland, Ohio he was licensed to preach the Gospel and has done so by remaining relevant, preaching with spiritual power while keeping academic integrity and keeping Jesus Christ at the center. As a student of the African American Preaching Tradition and Practical Theology he contributes his preaching formation to his spiritual father Dr. Peter M. Wherry as well as other mentors such as, Dr. John W. Kinney, Dr. James Henry Harris and Dr. Charles Gilcrest Adams.
While in Charlotte, God has continued to open many doors for Rev. McNeil. He has served as Administrative Assistant to the Sr. Pastor and Minister of Youth at Mayfield Memorial Missionary Baptist Church; he has served as Regional Chaplain of the Ohio Valley Region of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc. serving over 4,000 men in the states of Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia from 2009 - 2015. Also, in 2015 Rev. McNeil was accepted as a Clinical Pastoral Intern for the Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Salisbury, North Carolina in which he completed in May 2016. In 2017, he was selected as one of the Emerging Preachers by the Cleveland Baptist Association/ American Baptist Churches. He will serve as a Resident Mentor in the STREAM Youth Theology Institute in July 2017, serving some of the brightest teen theological minds in the country. Rev. McNeil currently serves as the Director of Ministry at Chappell Memorial Baptist Church.
In July 2017 Rev. McNeil will celebrate six years of marriage to the educated and lovely Mrs. Briana McNeil (formerly Nickols). They are the grateful parents of two children, Jamari A. & Marco, Jr. (Deuce.) The McNeil’s describe themselves as a ministry team prepared to do the work of the Lord.
