A Resolution Recognizing Bishop Charles Mason Ford on his
80th Birthday and Retirement
WHEREAS, Charles Mason Ford was born on January 3, 1936 in Chicago to Bishop Louis Henry Ford, the founder of St. Paul Church of God in Christ, and Margaret Little Ford; and
WHEREAS, Charles Mason Ford dutifully served the City of Chicago, rising to the position of Deputy Commissioner in the Department of Human Services where he managed social service, pre-school, emergency service and other programs; and
WHEREAS, Bishop Charles Mason Ford was ordained by his father in 1982 and later was appointed as the head of St. Paul Church of God in Christ in 1995 to fill the vacancy created upon his father's passing; and
WHEREAS, St. Paul Church of God in Christ was established under the motto "a full time ministry ministering full time to the needs of the whole family" and through a ministry focused on employment and other human and civil rights for African Americans, the Church received much acclaim culminating in the honorary naming of the Bishop Louis Henry Ford Expressway after the church's founder; and
WHEREAS, The church's long and storied history of community service, stretching all the way back to the 1940s, has continued under the leadership of Bishop Charles Mason Ford through numerous programs for children including: providing in-home care for infants and after-school programming for elementary and high school students; and
WHEREAS, The St. Paul Church of God in Christ has also served the needs ofthe community through the construction of Margaret Ford Manor, a sixty-unit senior apartment building, the renovation of a three story apartment building for use as the Chaney Ford Education and Community Center and the construction of a 24-unit building for the disabled; and
WHEREAS, Bishop Charles Mason Ford has received many personal accolades for his ecumenical work having been selected as a member of the Church of God in Christ's National Board of Trustees where he rose to become the Chairman of the Board, as well as having been recommended to become an Auxiliary Bishop in 2001 which was approved in May 2003; and
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the City Council members of the City of Chicago hereby assembled on this the 9th day of December, 2015, do hereby congratulate Bishop Charles Mason Ford on the occasion of his 80th birthday and retirement from St. Paul Church of God in Christ; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be prepared and presented to Bishop Charles Mason Ford and his family.
Pat Dowell Alderman, 3rd Ward