[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 129 (Thursday, September 24, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1801]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN CELEBRATION OF THE THIRTY YEARS OF MINISTRY OF THE CENTER OF HOPE 
 COMMUNITY CHURCH AND DR. ERNESTINE CLEVELAND REEMS, PASTOR AND FOUNDER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 24, 1998

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to join in the commemoration of the 30th 
Year Celebration of the Center of Hope Community Church in the East 
Oakland community and the Bay area. This event will be held the week of 
September 27 to October 3, 1998.
  Under the leadership of Dr. Ernestine Cleveland Reems Pastor and 
Founder, the Centers of Hope have made rehabilitation and restoration 
of their neighborhood the center of their pastoral mission. While many 
concentrate on the deterioration of human lives, Center of Hope is a 
``Beacon of Hope'' focusing on fostering urban renewal and reform. Its 
accomplishments, over the last 30 years in community development, are 
successful testaments to community parthership with Oakland's civic and 
corporate leadership to build a better Oakland.
  The success it has achieved in its various programs has led to an 85% 
reduction in crime in the area. The Church founded the Hope School of 
Excellence, a preschool to 8th grade curricula in 1978, and many of the 
School's graduates have gone on to Morehouse, Howard, Spellman and the 
University of California. In 1985, the Food and Clothing Bank was 
organized to serve hot, nourishing meals and distribute clothing to the 
East Oakland community on a weekly basis. Single parents and/or low 
income households are the targets of Project REDY (Reems Enrichment 
Development for Youth) established in 1986, which provides development 
and enrichment for their children.
  The Center of Hope Community Church has provided housing to the most 
vulnerable members of the community. E.E. Cleveland Manor, erected in 
1990, is a 54-unit housing complex for senior and disabled residents. 
Opened in 1992, the Matilda Cleveland Transitional Housing Program is a 
full service housing facility for homeless single women and their 
children. E.C. Reems Gardens is a 150-unit affordable housing complex 
finished in 1998. Alvingroom Court was renamed E.C. Reems Courts in 
honor of its Pastor and Founder, Dr. Ernestine Cleveland Reems.
  Dr. Reems was born to Elmer Elijah and Matilda Cleveland in 
Oklamulgee, Oklahoma and, at the age of nine, the family moved to 
Richmond, Califormia. She attended Richmond High School and Patton 
Bible College in Oakland. Dr. Reems, faith and education to the 
ministry were forged when she contracted tuberculosis at age thirteen 
and determined that the call of God to preach the Gospel was her life's 
salvation.
  She received her spiritual foundation in the World of God through her 
father, Bishop E.E. Cleveland, a national evangelist. Dr. Reems with 
her brother, Elmer Cleveland Jr., traveled to every major city in this 
country. Pastor Ernestine Reems has set the pace for women in the 
ministry when she founded the Center of Hope with four members in 1968. 
Today, the membership exceeds 1,500. In 1973, the United States Army 
sent for Pastor Reems and her crusade to minister to the soldiers in 
West Germany for which she was honored as a Five-Star General. However, 
greater satisfaction came from teaching and preaching the gospel which 
won many soldiers to Christ.
  Accolades have been bestowed upon Dr. Reems: Outstanding Service in 
Religion, Top 100 Black Business & Professional Women in America, 
Outstanding Community Service Award, State of California Legislature 
Women of the Year Award, Christian Image Lifetime Achievement Award, to 
name a few. Her highest honor was conferred upon her on February 14, 
1998 as a Doctor of Divinity.
  Dr. Ernestine C. Reems, as a pastor and teacher continues, to be a 
full-time Evangelist with the support of her husband, Paul Reems and 
their two sons, Brandon and Brian Ernest Reems. New heights of 
achievements are in the horizon for Pastor Reems and the Center of Hope 
Community Church and I wish them another 30 years of successful 
ministry.

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