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About the Founder
Rev. Eugene Barnes, TH.D.
Rev. Barnes with Kerry Kennedy, President and Founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights (WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2011 -- More than 50 representatives of grassroots and national housing advocacy organizations engaged in a three-hour roundtable discussion with officials from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, HOPE Now Alliance and Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE:OCN) on ways to address the national housing and mortgage crisis more effectively).
Reverend Dr. Eugene Barnes is the Founder/Executive Director of Metanoia Centers. In 1965, two years before graduating from Waukegan Township High, Dr. Barnes took his first steps in community service, with an active role as a youth leader in the local chapter of the NAACP. Dr. Barnes graduated from Slidell Baptist Seminary in 2001 with a Doctorate of Theology. He now has a degree that fit his life’s journey – helping people reach their potential. It was the degree that exemplified his community organizing, such as encouraging social reform, dealing with social injustice, and educating and helping people achieve their God given potential. Prior to 2001, Dr. Barnes completed an accelerated course of study in Brooklyn, NY through C.I.B.I. (Council of Independent Black Institutions) and taught at an alternative school, Weusi Shule.
He was hired by Xerox Corporation before the completion of his studies for computer technology at Control Data Institute after which, Dr. Barnes served as Program Manager and Community Outreach Coordinator for Delaware Technical and Community College where he was part of the winning team that won the National Governor’s Award for Best Practices as a national model for motivating high school students to stay in school in the Stay-In-School programs. He then formed Metanoia Centers in the fall of 2000, claiming the formation of twenty-one (21) other non-profits in these United States.
After joining Illinois People’s Action in 2001, Metanoia Centers attracted the attention of National City’s CDC and was awarded $369,000 to build homes for low to moderate income families in Champaign, and matching funds were received through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis and the city of Champaign to begin a series of efforts entitled “From Tragedy to Triumph”. Dr. Barnes became a board member of National People’s Action in 2007 and became board chair in 2008 and was invited by the White House to witness the signing of the historic Financial Reform Bill by President Barak Obama.
 Dr. Barnes has traveled to Israel, Palestine and South Korea as a negotiator for an Ambassador for Peace and as a member of the American Clergy Leadership Conference. He has won the Delaware state TRIO Outstanding Service award, Wilmington City Council award for New Directions Summer Youth Program, Phyllis K. Washington Outstanding Leadership award, and is listed in the 2000 edition of Who’s Who International Entrepreneurs.
Whether it's big banks and foreclosures, inadequate housing, international injustices or the role of faith in our communities, Dr. Barnes continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century.
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