The
Reverend Dr. Susan Newman is the Director of the Balm in
Gilead’s Washington, DC Office. She most recently served the District of
Columbia Government as the Senior Advisor to the Mayor for Religious Affairs,
and is an Adjunct Minister of Peoples Congregational United Church of Christ,
Washington, DC. Dr. Newman is an inspirational, motivating and humorous speaker
whose soul-stirring, thought-provoking insights on healthy relationships from a
spiritual perspective have garnered nationwide attention and acclaim. Hailed by
Ebony magazine as one of the Top Black Women Preachers in America,
the Atlanta Journal and Constitution has called her “down-to-earth,” powerful,”
“life-changing,” and “a reality check for the church.”She has had a 31-year career as a pastor, a community advocate, a teacher, a chaplain, and author. A native Washingtonian, Dr. Newman consults as a Teen Pregnancy Prevention and HIV/AIDS Educator and Trainer. She has worked with several community organizations and faith-based groups, including the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, the DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, and Planned Parenthood. In 2006 she was appointed to the Mayor’s DC Task Force on HIV and AIDS.
In the 1990’s living in Atlanta, Ga., Dr. Newman served as Chair for the Mayor of Atlanta’s Commission on Community Relations and the Georgia Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Welfare Reform. She also served as the Executive Director of Georgians for Children, an Atlanta-based child advocacy organization that monitors and recommends changes in Georgia policies that affect children and their families.
An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, Dr. Newman has served as the Senior Pastor of First Congregational Church, UCC, in Atlanta, Georgia; the Resident Chaplain at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC; Adjunct Professor at the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, where she mentored Doctoral students – The Wheeler-Newman Fellows; the Religious Coordinator for the Children’s Defense Fund; the Chaplain and Director of Community Service at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, and is a member of the Executive Board of the Ministers for Racial, Social, and Economic Justice, UCC.
DJ Figgy
- Anthony Jones aka DJ Figgy - is a native Baltimorean. He says that being a DJ
is his life, he absolutely loves it and the moneys not bad either. Figgy, as he
is affectionately known believes that providing music to the entertainment
industry requires an energetic person. “ The DJ directs the events and helps to
insure that its is a non-stop fun and memorable time for all.” He has owned and
operated his business since the late 70’s making his knowledge of music vast as
he grows and changes with the music. “It’s not just about the music but about
the crowd. You have to know how to read them to gauge what they need at that
moment and give it to them. I’ve played at some of the top swing dance events in
the country.” Since a dancer would know what dancers want. Figgy, an
accomplished dancer and his partner Linda Allen have been dancing together since
2001 and have a unique style of hand dancing.