Becoming Beloved Community grants available for local and regional efforts

Applications due September 13, 2019

Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs
Posted Aug 20, 2019

The Presiding Officers’ Advisory Group on Beloved Community Implementation is pleased to announce the availability of grants to catalyze the church’s work of racial healing, reconciliation and justice. Allocated by the 79th General Convention of The Episcopal Church (GC 2018 Resolution D002), the intent for this funding is to build capacity and increase Episcopal engagement in four primary fields: telling the truth about our churches and race, proclaiming the dream of Beloved Community, practicing Jesus’ way of healing and reconciliation, and repairing the breach in institutions and society.

Applications open on August 13, 2019; deadline for submitting grant application is September 13, 2019.

“During and since General Convention, leaders from dioceses throughout The Episcopal Church have shared their desire to develop and put forth programming, action, and education around racial reconciliation that comes from and makes sense in their various contexts,” said advisory group chair, the Rev. Edwin Johnson, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. “We are excited to empower and partner with churches, dioceses and communities to do just that, as they know their people and contexts better than anyone else. In the end, we are hopeful that the work we support throughout the church will enable the work of racial reconciliation on the local level while growing our collective wisdom and will to engage it more broadly together.”

Projects may include, but are not limited to:

  • Racial equity audits, community-wide listening and learning sessions, hosting Beloved Community Story Sharing, speaker series, pilgrimages, sacred listening and learning engagements, racial reconciliation workshops and facilitated trainings, re-entry ministries with people returning from incarceration, immigration clinics, and other activities that promote the work of Becoming Beloved Community.
  • Work to deepen relationships between English-speaking communities and communities of different cultures, especially ones who share physical and spiritual space with the commitment to become one congregation with different languages and cultural expressions, and for which the work of racial justice, healing and reconciliation will bring transformation, well-being, and a desire to work together as different parts of the body of Christ.
  • Creation of resources to encourage the growth of beloved community, inviting people to embark in the personal journey and inner work of Becoming Beloved Community supported by the spiritual practices of The Way of Love.

These grants are available to Episcopal institutions (parishes, dioceses, provinces, schools, seminaries, monastic communities). Episcopal organizations and other Episcopal-affiliated entities are also eligible to receive these funds. Partnerships with non-Episcopal entities are welcome and encouraged, but an Episcopal entity must serve as the project leader, active manager, and reporting agent.

The Advisory Group recommends that institutions and organizations interested in applying for a grant begin this process by reading and reflecting on The Episcopal Church’s resource: Becoming Beloved Community Where You Are, which describes specific ways to engage in this work.

Grants
SEED grants (up to $10,000): Seed grants are smaller grants geared to groups launching new projects and/or evolving the scale of an existing project. These grants may fund new educational opportunities, training, workshops, or campaigns to increase engagement in racial justice, healing, and reconciliation. They may also fund broad and exploratory work to learn more about the local context before proposing more extensive programming. Seed grants may be initiated by institutions or organizations. Special attention and priority will be given to applications with the potential to bring new communities into the work of Becoming Beloved Community.

IMPACT grants (up to $20,000):  The larger impact grants are primarily for growing capacity, impact, and reach of communities and institutions that are already working to advance racial justice, healing, and reconciliation. While the project may have an exploratory component, the expectation is that there must be a clear theory of change and desired outcomes, and that it will produce processes and/or tools that can be shared. While individual churches and communities may apply, special priority will be given to applications that demonstrate collaboration of several organizations connected regionally and/or thematically. Priority will also be given to projects that center the experience and leadership of communities most impacted by structural racial inequities.

The Presiding Officers’ Advisory Group on Beloved Community Implementation will review grant applications and make recommendations to Executive Council for their October 2019 meeting.

The grant application, criteria, and additional information is available on The Episcopal Church website on the Grants and Scholarships page, the Racial Reconciliation page, and the Becoming Beloved Community page.

If you have questions, please contact the Rev. Edwin Johnson at padreedwinj@gmail.com or the Rev. Meg Wagner at mwagner@iowaepiscopal.org.

Please note the following for dioceses of The Episcopal Church: Applicant understands that should its local diocese fail to pay its assessment in full or to apply for and receive a waiver, the diocese and the applicant shall be ineligible to receive grants or loans from the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society unless approved by Executive Council.  In accordance with Canon I.4.6, (select the applicable response): The diocese pays its full assessment; The diocese has been granted a waiver for years (list); The diocese has made application for a waiver but has not been advised regarding a determination.


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