1999 Leadership Award

Rev. Dr. Floyd Flake
Senior Pastor, Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church, Queens, NY

The Center for Public Justice presented its 1999 Leadership Award to the Rev. Dr. Floyd Flake. Rev. Flake is senior pastor of the 10,000-member Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church in Queens, NY, where he has served since 1976. Under Rev. Flake's leadership, the church has become a model for faith-based development across the country. Allen AME has transformed its community through development projects that include a 300-unit senior citizen complex and a multi-purpose center that provides health care, a Head Start Program, psychiatric services, and the Women, Infants and Children Program. Allen AME has also built over 100 affordable homes for first-time buyers. The church and its subsidiaries employ more than 800 people. In 1982 Rev. Dr. Flake and his wife, Dr. M. Elaine Flake, co-founded Allen Christian School, which serves over 500 students.

In 1987, Rev. Flake was elected to the U.S. Congress, where he served until 1997, representing his district in New York as a Democrat. During his time in Congress, and as a pastor, Flake distinguished himself as a leading proponent of the policies that make a local community and economic development more achievable. Flake also served as Dean of Students and a University Chaplain at Boston University in 1976. He served as the Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Afro-American Center at Boston University from 1973 to 1976.

Rev. Floyd Flake is a graduate of Wilberforce University; he also earned a Doctorate of Ministry degree from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.