Marvel Parker

Portrait Marvel Parker

Trustee

Email Marvel Parker

Marvel McCain Parker, is a graduate of Northeastern Illinois University; she holds a Bachelor of Arts with majors in Nonprofit Administration and Social and Community Sturdies, completed graduate work at Lewis University in the Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership Program. A graduate of Harvard University Divinity School; “Summer Leadership Institute” (SLI) class of 2004; a graduate of Grace Theological Seminary, she holds a Master of Divinity and a Doctorate of Divinity.

Public Administrator for the Village of Summit from 1998-2012, she held the positions of: Director of Community Development, Enterprise Zone Administrator, Chairman of the Summit Youth Commission, and Weed and Seed Program Administrator. Retired in 2011, she was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2012 and elected to the Board in 2013 and 2017.

A self-published author of: “Breaking the Silence; The Impact of HIV/AIDS on African American Women and the Silence of the Church,” and a Behavioral Intervention curriculum entitled, “LISTEN-LEARN-LIVE.”

In 2008 in furtherance to her commitment to educate communities about the impact of HIV/AIDS, she created AIDS Awareness Advocacy Inc., a U.S. not for profit and a NGO in Belize Central America where she serves as Executive Director and CEO.

Marvel Parker is President of Community Design Concepts, a management consulting firm. In 1984, she established Vel’s Travel Agency Inc. where she served as President for thirty years. She served as: Executive Director of the Summit Community Task Force, 1992-2004, a 501C (3) community and faith-based initiative she and her husband Pastor Wheeler Parker organized in 1992; a board member of the West Angeles CDC, Los Angeles Ca., 2008-2012; the Mamie Till Moberly Memorial Foundation; and a member of the Moraine Valley Community College Area Planning Council 2007-2009.

She has received numerous awards for her commitment to education and advocacy for the poor. She has been honored with awards which include Citizen of the Year; from the Summit Chamber of Commerce 1992, Woman of Distinction; from the Whispering Oaks Girl Scouts 2002, Outstanding Service To The Community; from Northeastern Illinois University 2004, Community Service Award; from Cook County Housing Authority 2004.

 She is a third-generation member of the Church of God In Christ, and an active member of Argo Temple Church of God In Christ since 1968, where her husband Elder Wheeler Parker Jr. serves as Pastor since 1993. She is Assistant Supervisor of the Women’s Department of 5th Jurisdiction Illinois-West. Dr. Parker and her husband are foreign missionaries in Belmopan, Belize, Central America where they are building a church. They currently support Calvary Temple School in Belize City, which has over 300 students.