BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
With a gift of $1 million, announced Tuesday, Cincinnati Bell Inc. and Convergys Corp. aim to ensure a long, productive life for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center's Theodore M. Berry Distinguished Lecture Series.
Much like the man for whom the lecture series is named.
Mr. Berry, Cincinnati's first African-American mayor and a lifelong advocate for human rights, thanked the companies for the recognition.
"Believe it or not, I'm working on my 93rd year in public activities in Cincinnati," he said. "I'm very grateful for the community's honor bestowed upon me for advancing the collective effort to change this community in a positive way."
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National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
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The gift was the center's second million-dollar announcement in less than a week. On Friday, Star Bank announced a $1 million endowment for the center's International Freedom Conductor Award.
"It's a wonderful vote of confidence, and we're thrilled," National Development Director Dianne Tindall Hennes said of the back-to-back gifts.
Cincinnati Bell President and CEO John LaMacchia took note of the progress the country has made during Mr. Berry's life and the fact that there's more work to be done: "I hope 93 years from today, when the lecture series still is in its prime, our successors will look back and say we've made some good progress in 186 years." Mr. LaMacchia said Cincinnati Bell studied how best to support the center and the "Berry Lecture Series was the right thing at the right time."
Convergys President and CEO Jim Orr noted the importance of communication in efforts at cooperation and reconciliation, the freedom center's dominant themes.
The $1 million gift is the single largest financial commitment ever given by the Cincinnati Bell Foundation and the first major commitment of the newly formed Convergys Corp., a Cincinnati Bell spin-off that provides billing and customer-management services.
The freedom center, which plans to open a museum on Cincinnati's riverfront in 2003, hopes to raise between $80 million and $90 million for the museum and the center's educational programs.
Including the $1 million gift from Star Bank and the $1 million from Cincinnati Bell and Convergys, the center already has raised $16 million.
The goal of the museum is to commemorate the Underground Railroad, a secret network used to help slaves escape to freedom.
The inaugural lecture of the national lecture series will be delivered by A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., retired chief justice of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, on Sept. 25 at the Mayerson Education Center.
