Rick Churchill: A Life of Community Service, a Bent for Budgeting
Rick Churchill’s 30 years of community service have included neighborhood organizing, conflict mediation and helping to elect Democrats to public office.
In the early 1980s, Rick served as director of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission representing Ward 2 in Washington, D.C. While there, Churchill helped win historic district status for a section of Foggy Bottom. Also while living in Washington, Churchill served for two years as president of the Foggy Bottom Association, a neighborhood organization that fought to preserve residential housing and quality of life in an area under tremendous pressure from the George Washington University and other real estate developers.
In 1983, Churchill moved to New York, where he worked as a business rep for Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians. During this period, he volunteered his services as a conflict mediator for the municipal court system in New York City.
Since moving to Penn Wynne in 1992, Churchill has helped to elect numerous Democratic party candidates. He also served as Scout Master for Merion Liberty Boy Scouts, the oldest continuously operating boy scout pack in the U.S.
With a BA in History from Ohio Wesleyan University and a Masters degree in Labor Relations from the University of the District of Columbia, Churchill has completed most of the course work for a Masters degree in Education. He teaches African American and World History at Philadelphia’s Communications Technology High School, a magnet school for students who aspire to careers in the electronic media.
Churchill and his wife have partnered in two businesses. Kathy Haley & Associates, a custom publishing firm, managed large editorial projects, including special supplements, special issues and special reports, for publications ranging from the New York Times and Advertising Age to numerous television trade publications. Their current business, TVNewsday LLC, operates a continuously updated business news Web site for executives and managers in the broadcast television industry.
Churchill has long had an interest in finance and budgeting. He has handled tax, budgeting and financial issues for both of the companies he and his wife, Kathy Haley, have operated. In his spare time, he serves as comptroller for St. James United Church of Christ in Havertown.
He and Haley also launched the New Horizons Club, an organization that provides facilitated opportunities for adults with Asperger Syndrome to socialize, connect with their communities and work toward independent living. The club serves members in Montgomery, Delaware, Chester, Philadelphia and Bucks counties.
Churchill’s wife, Kathy, and both of his children are graduates of Lower Merion High School.