On June 21, 2010, Rev. Abraham L. Funchess Jr. was appointed by Mayor Buck Clark to the position of Human Rights Director for the city of Waterloo. It was here that Funchess received the “Building Unity and Developing Understanding” Award from the City of Waterloo Commission on Human Rights in 2008.
Reverend Abraham L. Funchess, Jr., is the oldest of three children of Abraham and Bernice Funchess in St. Matthews, South Carolina. Funchess graduated Valedictorian from Calhoun County High School in 1986 and matriculated into Duke University in Durham, NC, in the fall of that year. He transferred to Hampton University in Hampton, VA, in the fall of 1988. Funchess majored in Sociology with a minor in Psychology, receiving upon graduation the W.E.B. DuBois Award for Scholarship and Activism. In December 2010, Funchess completed a Certified Public Management Course at Drake University in Des Moines.
Funchess has served as an Executive Director of Christian Community Development in Waterloo, and as an Adjunct Professor at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo. In 2003, Funchess was appointed by Resident Bishop Gregory V. Palmer to serve in the Iowa Annual Conference to work at Jubilee United Methodist Church (www.jubileeumc.com) in Waterloo, where he still serves, and he has been reappointed to Jubilee by current Resident Bishop Julius C. Trimble. Funchess was appointed to serve as Division Administrator of the Iowa Commission on the Status of African Americans within the Iowa Department of Human Rights during both Governors Vilsack and Culver's administrations.
Funchess was ordained into ministry under the leadership of Rev. Michael E. Coleman at Antioch Baptist in Waterloo, Iowa. Funchess is married to Veronica McGee of Waterloo. They have two children, a boy and a girl, Solomon Diara and Kenyatta Tashianna.
Human Rights Specialist
Rebecca Johnson
rebecca.johnson@waterloo-ia.org
Volunteer/Intern program - The Waterloo Commission on Human Rights participates with internship programs. Interns play an integral role in meeting the goals of our mission. Our plan is to have three continual interns to assist in our education outreach efforts as well as the enforcement of the Civil Rights Act.
