Page 15 - Pastoral Installation Service Booklet(8.5" x 11")

PASTOR CHRIS HARRIS

Pastor Chris Harris leads Bright Star Church (www.BrightStarChurchChicago.com)
in Chicago’s Bronzeville Community and has ministered in over 24 countries
singing Gospel and Jazz.

He is founder of Bright Star Community Outreach (www.BrightStarCommunityOutreach.com)
a 501c3 dedicated to youth & family anti-violence programs. He has developed the TURN
Center (The Urban Resilience Network) based on the Israeli model of NATAL in Tel Aviv.
TURN endeavors to focus on five core competencies: counseling, parenting, mentorship,
work-force development and advocacy. Its unique model will utilize faith and community
leaders as trauma counselors and use community surveys as the basis for services that
directly correspond to the unique needs of constituents. Its end-to-end approach offers a
replicable, evidenced-based template for risk assessment and program evaluation. Although
the TURN Center will sit in Bronzeville; it will serve Chicago as a whole, and our ultimate
goal is to replicate this model across the United States in other traumatized communities.

BCSO’s partners in this effort are: Northwestern Medicine, University of Chicago
Medicine, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, Jewish United Fund, Sinai
Community Institute, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and now CIGNA to name a
few. This community impact project has received more than $9 Million dollars of
support thus far. BSCO now employs 500+ (full and part time) residents in Chicago
and has served thousands of residents in the Bronzeville Community. One of the most
exciting things for Pastor Harris and BSCO is their Greater Bronzeville Community
Action Plan where more than 50 Bronzeville organizations are collaboratively
partnering to make a community level impact on violence and trauma. This
collaborative vision plan birthed from and led by Pastor Harris recently received a $1
Million Grant from the MacArthur Foundation over a four year period.

Pastor Harris has served as National Council Member of AIPAC (the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee) and is the Chairman of the Bronzeville Community Action
Council. He is also a member of the University of Chicago Medicine (UCM)
Community Advisory Council and has served as President of the 4th Ward & Cook
County Clergy Coalitions. He’s the proud husband of Jojo Harris and father of four
beautiful children – Chrystal (26), Chris Jr. (21), Christian (19) and Christiana (16).