Glide Memorial Church Expresses Thanks to Departing GLIDE Foundation CEO Karen Hanrahan

Note:  Glide Memorial Church is the correct name for the spiritual community and church at 330 Ellis Street. Glide Memorial Church is a separate non-profit organization with a subsidiary relationship to the GLIDE Foundation. The GLIDE Foundation, or GLIDE, organizes and provides the Daily Free Meals and other social services and social justice programs at 330 Ellis Street. When referring to GLIDE social services and programs, please use the correct name, GLIDE Foundation, or simply GLIDE, rather than the name of the church.

December 9, 2022, San Francisco — Glide Memorial Church thanks Karen Hanrahan for her service as she steps down as President and CEO of the Glide Foundation. GLIDE Board member Malcolm Walter will serve as Interim CEO. In January 2023, Glide Memorial Church will join the GLIDE Foundation in opportunities to celebrate her work.

“We give thanks to God for Karen’s leadership at the GLIDE Foundation,” said Marvin K. White, Glide Memorial Church’s Minister of Celebration. “The past few years have been difficult for all who experience homelessness and hunger in San Francisco. Karen shepherded transitions that helped the GLIDE Foundation take our lifesaving programs to the streets.”

As the organization searches for a new leader, interim CEO Malcolm Walter will lead the GLIDE Foundation. Glide Memorial Church will continue to be led by its Minister of Celebration, Martin K. White, and its Board of Directors. “During the transition at the GLIDE Foundation, Glide Memorial Church will remain a beacon of hope and a sanctuary for those who have been outcast,” said Reggie Johnson, Chair of the Glide Memorial Church Board of Directors.

“Glide Memorial Church will continue to pray, advocate, and provoke justice. We celebrate Karen as she steps away and look forward to the journey ahead with the GLIDE Foundation.”

About GLIDE: In 1929, San Francisco Philanthropist Lizzie Glide purchased the property at 330 Ellis and funded Glide Memorial Church and the GLIDE Foundation. In 1963 Cecil Williams became the pastor of Glide Memorial Church and inspired political, economic, and cultural changes at both the church and the Glide Foundation. Glide Memorial Church has more than 20 congregational life groups supporting diverse individuals and has a Celebration service every Sunday at 9 and 11 am. Our world-famous Glide Ensemble’s faithful music inspires activist spirituality in our sanctuary, community, prisons, stadiums, and television. The music has bolstered our work with the Black Panthers and the United Farm Workers, been proclaimed alongside Gay Liberation and Marriage Equality, and sung out against Apartheid, domestic violence, economic and social injustice, poverty, and hunger. Learn more at GLIDE.org.

KAREN IN THE NEWS

Reuters: Uneasy Allies — As the West backs Nigeria’s war on insurgents, it backs off on human rights

Dec. 28, 2022 — “The U.S. and the UK have long struggled with a dilemma in Nigeria: How to support the government in its war with Islamist insurgents while holding the military to account for mounting evidence of abuses against civilians,” explain Reuters London-based reporters David Lewis, Reade Levinson, and Libby George.

“Washington and London continue to back the military as security worries – and geopolitical and economic considerations – repeatedly prevail.”For their comprehensive, multi-article investigation, the reporters explained that since 2000, the United States had provided at least 41,027 training slots for Nigerian military personnel, many focusing on compliance with international law and appropriate use of weapons to mitigate civilian harm, according to a May 2022 report about Nigeria and its military by Brown University and others.

However, continued reports of harm inflicted by Nigerian security forces, including civilian casualties and sexual violence, suggest “that training provided by the U.S. and others have been insufficient in either quantity and scope or have not been appropriately targeted,” the report found.

The reporters interviewed Karen Hanrahan, who oversaw the implementation of the Leahy Laws as a State Department official in the Obama administration. Click here to read the entire article.

In the News: Click here to read more articles featuring Karen.