2008 West-Whitelow Award for Humanitarian Service

David R. Radcliff, Class of 1975, is director of the New Community Project in Elgin, Ill., a faith-based, non-profit organization with a mission to help Christians in the United States and society at large live responsibly and justly, particularly towards the Earth and people at the margins of global society.

Dr. Radcliff, a native of Blue Ridge, Va., graduated from Bridgewater with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religion. He went on to earn his master of divinity and doctor of ministry in peace studies from Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind. From 1989 until 2003 he was director of Brethren Witness for the Church of the Brethren General Board. In this capacity, he coordinated the denomination’s peace and justice efforts and care for creation programs, managed the hunger response fund and supervised the Washington office.

In August 2003, Dr. Radcliff and others founded New Community Project. NCP has a network of more than 5,000 people in the United States and beyond, and has program partners in seven countries. The organization sponsors learning tours to four continents, supports girls’ education, reforestation and malaria prevention, provides a wide variety of print and Web-based resources, and has a program staff of nine people. NCP is not directly affiliated with any larger institution or church body, but works collaboratively with various local, regional and national groups, both religious and secular. NCP receives the majority of its financial support from individual contributions, along with service fees and grants from congregations or other institutions.

Over the past 20 years, Dr. Radcliff has led learning tours to areas of the world where people and/or the Earth are at risk from war, hunger, exploitation and environmental degradation. Destinations have included Iraq, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Sudan, North Korea, the Amazon region of Ecuador, Nepal, Burma and Arctic Village, Alaska. He has a special interest in youth and young adults and regularly leads workshops and retreats for these groups.

Since 1990, Dr. Radcliff has served as closing speaker at the quadrennial National Youth Conference of the Church of the Brethren. He also teaches in the continuing education and distance-learning department at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, where he has developed courses on the environment, globalization and hunger and poverty, while team-teaching other courses as well. He is a regular contributing writer to the Church of the Brethren magazine, Messenger.

Committed to Earth care, he doesn’t own a car, instead traveling by bicycle, and is a near-vegetarian (most often done in by a Chinese buffet). He enjoys photography, travel and gardening and is a member of the Highland Avenue Church of the Brethren. Dr. Radcliff has two children, Miriam and Daniel.

The West-Whitelow Award was established in 2002 to recognize exceptional humanitarian service as demonstrated by Naomi Miller West, Class of 1929, and Carlyle Whitelow, Class of 1959, who received the first awards in 2003.

By presenting him with the 2008 West-Whitelow Award for Humanitarian Service, David R. Radcliff '75 was recognized by the Bridgewater College Alumni Association for his tireless dedication and commitment to humanity - continuing the example set by Naomi West and Carlyle Whitelow.