CHARLOTTE VIEW 2011 & MECKLENBURG MINISTRIES-Dr.Maria Hanlin

Charlotte View interview with Dr. Maria Hanlin, Executive Director of Mecklenburg Ministries since June 2005. During this time, Mecklenburg Ministries’ congregational membership has grown from 50 to over 90 member congregations and Mecklenburg Ministries has initiated many programs/councils including: “In Our Own Backyard” Interfaith Service Camp, Youth Leadership Council, annual Awards Breakfast, Interfaith Clergy Habitat Builds, Clergy Advisory Board, Liaison Council, “In Their Shoes” Homeless Awareness Walk, Friday Friends program and Festival, as well as having grown the Thanksgiving Service from 300 to over 1,300 and collaborated to produce two documentaries: Souls of Our Students and Souls of Our Teachers. Maria serves on the Crossroads Steering Committee, The Benefit Bank Advisory Committee, The City’s Community Cabinet, the Charlotte Mecklenburg School Superintendent’s Interfaith Advisory Committee, and the Crisis Assistance Advocacy Committee.

Dr. Maria Hanlin did her undergraduate work at Vanderbilt University, her Masters of Divinity at the School of Theology at Claremont, and her doctorate in "Ministry with the Poor" at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. Maria has served as the Director of Admissions for the School of Theology at Claremont, as chaplain for a girls home for emotionally abused teenage girls in California, as well as serving 20 years as a pastor in various congregations in Los Angeles and in the Charlotte area.