Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr., Presiding Bishop Emeritus of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), the largest Black Christian denomination in the country with a membership of 6.5 million, and an international statesman and humanitarian, has been named to the National Advisory Panel of The PuLSE Institute (Institute for Public Leadership and Social Equity), a national anti-poverty think tank headquartered in Detroit, the nation’s biggest Black city.

Bishop Blake will join Dr. Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and a member of the board of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital in South Africa, Sister Simone Campbell, a leading Catholic social justice advocate who gave the invocation at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Dr. Bernard LaFayette, a top aide to Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and the National Coordinator of the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, former White House spokesman Robert Weiner, former presidential diarist Janis Kearney and other luminaries and figures to advise the Institute on issues of poverty and income inequality.

L-R: Bankole Thompson, the editor-in-chief and dean of The PuLSE Institute; the late Bishop PA Brooks (standing), who served as the First Assistant Presiding Bishop of COGIC, and Presiding Bishop Emeritus Charles E. Blake speaking in 2014 in a private meeting.  

Bishop Blake accepted the invitation of The PuLSE Institute to join the National Advisory Panel, which serves as the brain trust of the Institute. Collectively, its members bring more than a century of impactful and transformative anti-poverty work to the Institute.  The addition of Bishop Blake to the panel brings a theological giant, and a dynamic and transcending force to the work of the independent think tank devoted to fighting poverty in Detroit and around the nation.

“Bishop Blake has wielded his massive influence with integrity, in defense of those surviving on the margins of society.“

“The PuLSE Institute is honored to welcome Bishop Charles Blake to the National Advisory Panel. Bishop Blake has demonstrated sincere and persistent commitment to fighting poverty around the globe while leading one of the largest African American congregations in the nation,” said Attorney Tina M. Patterson, the president and director of research at The PuLSE Institute. “He personifies the spirit and leadership of the revered Black Church, long-renowned for its ardent advocacy for equality, human rights, and economic justice.

Bishop Blake is an institution builder and a standard-bearer of Black Church leadership in the 21^st century.  “He has wielded his massive influence with dignity, integrity, and moral conviction in defense of those surviving on the margins of society,” said Ms. Patterson, ” immeasurable qualities that are still necessary as we continue to face the challenges of inequality.” (TO READ MORE, PLEASE CLICK  HERE).

Inset image and text, courtesy of the PuLSE Institute. Many thanks!