October 20, 1997-- At this week’s board of directors meeting, the Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministries announced the 1998 Theressa Hoover Community Service and Global Citizen Awardee, who will study the link between women and children’s health care and transportation barriers.
Talia McCray, a Ph.D. candidate at University of Michigan, plans to use her academic concentration and work experience to do a four-month cross-cultural study of the issue in both Detroit, Michigan, and Durban, South Africa.
In March 1997, Ms. McCray conducted a focus group with clients of Healthy Baby Service in Detroit, Michigan, and bases her upcoming project on this work. In the focus group, women listed transportation as one of the major barriers to health care. She concluded that welfare recipients and others often do not have modes of transportation to jobs, health care facilities, and other services. "We must encourage legislators to provide funding to improve transportation services to move welfare recipients to where they need to be," she says.
"I will conduct a similar study with women living in squatter settlements on the outskirts of Durban, South Africa," says Ms. McCray. "By documenting the physical barriers that exist, it could possibly affect the governmental decision-making process of where roads should be built and how public transportation can be transformed to meet the needs of communities outside the major cities."
McCray plans to interview women, health care workers, and non-governmental agencies that deal with health care services.
Talia McCray presently is pursuing a Ph.D. in Urban Technological and Environmental Planning from the University of Michigan. She also holds an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University; a B.S. in mathematics from Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina; and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina A&T University.
McCray worked with the Federal Highway Administration; as a consultant; and as a Digital Signal Processing Engineer for AT&T Bell Laboratories. She has served on the board of directors for several non-profit organizations, including the Washtenaw Affordable Housing Corporation, Ann Arbor, Michigan; the Math Enrichment Program of the Colorado Association of Black Professional Engineers, Denver, Colorado; Ethnic College Counseling Center, Denver, Colorado; and the World and Women’s Divisions of the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, New York City, New York.
The Theressa Hoover Community Service and Global Citizen Award was established by the Women’s Division, October 6, 1990. "The Award, in the form of a grant, is for study, exploration, learning, research, and/or observation in a subject area of the recipient’s choosing in harmony with the current interests of the Women’s Division," says a division resolution. It is bestowed annually to honor Theressa Hoover for her years of service to the Woman’s Division/Women’s Division (1948-1990), the United Methodist Church, and the ecumenical world.
The Women’s Division represents United Methodist Women, an organization of one million members. The organization’s purpose is to foster spiritual growth, develop leaders, and advocate for social justice. United Methodist Women members raise more than $25 million a year for programs and projects related to women, children, and youth in the United States and in more than 100 countries around the world.
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