They’re not statistics they’re lives, why Ryan Wallace gives to McCormick

08-01-2023

Ryan Wallace goes behind the numbers to meet the people. Giving to McCormick is based on a desire to encourage future McCormick students to do the same.

According to Ohio’s Children’s Law Center, less than 30 percent of the population in Ohio’s Cuyahoga County are persons of color. Yet, 91 percent of the youth in that county who are transferred to the adult judicial system are Black or Brown. Statistics like that often get the attention of Rev. Ryan Wallace, MTS ’12, M.Div.’17, senior pastor of Fairmont Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. After earning his first degree from McCormick, Rev. Wallace worked with community organizers at the Community Renewal Society and the Interfaith Worker Justice. “That’s what I felt the Spirit was calling me to do from my first semester at McCormick,” he says.

Today, in his own community, he serves as co-chair of an issue team for the Greater Cleveland Congregations, 40 congregations working together on justice issues. One issue he’s passionate about is the number of children being tried as adults. “I wasn’t aware of binding over,” he says, “a process that can send children as young as 13 years old to the adult justice system for their trials. They could end up in prisons designed for adults.”

Beyond working against oppressive binding over legislation, Rev. Wallace engages with youth and their parents who are in that kind of challenging situation. “One young man was 14 years old when he was tried as an adult,” begins Rev. Wallace. “I sat with his mom when he was sentenced as an adult to 21 years in prison. It’s hard to understand how things like that happen. What we do know is that two of his mentors – an uncle and a basketball coach – died close to the time he made some bad choices, and he needed a job, a way to make some money. This is not the time to give up on this young man or other youth, but to ask what is the just way to represent children.”

Rev. Wallace credits his McCormick professors and classmates with fostering an environment that focused on being intentional, accountable and in solidarity with the communities he serves. “I'll always have gratitude for McCormick and the people who shaped me as a pastor and organizer,” says Rev. Wallace. “I want the same for the generation of pastors who will come behind me. My giving is based on that desire.

“This is not the time to give up on this young man or other youth, but to ask what is the just way to represent children.”

Rev. Ryan Wallace
MTS 2012, Mdiv 2017