As the executive director of Black Ministerial Alliance, one of Boston’s oldest and most effective social service organizations, Harold Sparrow acts a servant leader who is committed to empowering the community. His oversight of the coalition of eighty minority churches has provided nurture, direction, and tangible assistance for high-risk populations throughout Boston. More than two million lives have been directly touched by the efforts of BMA in the forty years of the organization’s history.
Harold’s passion – and the lifeblood of BMA – is resourcing, training, and equipping black congregations throughout greater Boston for more effective service to those in need. Specifically, Harold leads the organization’s activities in providing individualized technical assistance to black church and faith-based organizations that are operating community service programs. He also spearheads BMA’s programming for minority youth in the city – through after school programming and education reform advocacy. More than 22,000 youth have been impacted to date through BMA’s services.
Harold is also involved in assisting local faith- and community-based organizations to build capacity through a new initiative called the Boston Capacity Tank Program. Through this program, BMA and its partners provide capacity-building assistance including grants and workshops to faith- and community-based organizations. The funding for the Tank initiative were won in the form of a two million dollar grant that BMA and several partners were awarded by the federal Compassion Capital Fund in 2002. Boston Capacity Tank has provided more than $ 2,000,000 in funds impacting ninety six faith-based and community-based organizations. Harold’s expertise in working effectively with urban congregations has proved indispensable to the BMA’s successes in the Tank’s work.
Under Harold’s leadership, the BMA hosted a gubernatorial “Urban Agenda Forum” – a media-covered event that drew an attendance of more than 1,500 people and in which all five candidates for MA governor. Following the subsequent election of Mitt Romney as MA governor, Harold and his team hosted the Inaugural Prayer Service for the new governor.
Before becoming executive director of BMA in 2002, Harold worked in community development and programming through several Boston organizations. At the Medical Foundation Prevention Center, he developed community prevention and programming, focusing on public health promotions in alcohol, tobacco, and other drug and violence prevention. At the Urban League of Eastern Mass., he also implemented and managed “Positive Futures,” a curriculum-based after-school program for minority males that promotes education, self-esteem, and values clarification within the Boston public school system. As executive director of the Roxbury YMCA Family Branch, Harold led the center through a renaissance that included quadrupling revenues, boosting membership from 300 to 3,300, and supporting a two million dollar capital campaign. His efforts won him the Golden Triangle Award for programmatic excellence from the Association of Professional Directors of the YMCA in 2001. Harold also received the Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s African-American Achievement Award in 2002.
