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2-March-1999
99084
GAC Approves Recommendations to Shape New Era of
Cooperation, Funding With Racial/Ethnic Schools
by Evan Silverstein
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Roberto "Beto" Delgado still remembers working for the
Synod of the Sun and that its members considered higher education to be a
vital part of mission for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Now chair of the National Ministries Division Committee, Delgado
recounted these memories Feb. 12 during the General Assembly Council's
winter meeting here. The GAC approved action that will help shape how the
church's mission of higher education is carried out and the way funding to
racial/ethnic schools is distributed.
"We talked about the relationships with our colleges and universities
as being a mutual affirmation of one another's ministries," Delgado said
during the NMD Committee's report to the GAC at the stately Seelbach Hotel.
"These children of the church have grown up to be peer institutions."
The GAC approved the committee's report and a recommendation for the
establishment of a task force to develop a formula and criteria for doling
out funds from the Christmas Joy Offering to the eight Presbyterian
racial/ethnic schools and colleges. Money from the offering also goes to
programs administered by the Board of Pensions for the emergency needs of
former church workers.
The formula would mean "a fair and equitable means of distribution,"
said Delgado, who was reelected as chair during the GAC meeting.
The GAC also affirmed as a "work in progress" the General Assembly's
mission strategy for working with racial/ethnic schools and colleges.
Compiled by the National Ministries Division, in partnership with Mission
Support Services, the plan has five primary components for implementing its
commitment to the schools. Refinements to the plan will be brought to the
June meeting of the GAC in Fort Worth, Texas.
"The work in progress [defines] our way of sharing and structuring the
racial/ethnic schools and colleges," said Mary Newbern-Williams, the
PC(USA)'s associate for racial/ethnic schools and colleges. "It's how we
work with them and how our partnership will be comprised."
New formula
In order to provide a fair and equitable distribution of money from the
Christmas Joy Offering to the racial/ethnic schools and colleges, the
Office of Racial Ethnic Schools and Colleges has met with a small group of
education professionals to form a task force and develop a payment formula.
The formula will guide the distribution of the Christmas Joy Offering
so that each school or college receives funds in a fair manner. The formula
will take into account the unique situation and circumstances of each of
the eight institutions.
"The makeup of each school is different and how they go about their
mission is different," Newbern-Williams said.
Previously, a committee had been responsible for divvying up the money,
she said. This year, she said, each school will receive a standard amount
as the new formula is awaited. Five colleges will receive $330,000 each,
while two secondary schools along with Cook College and Theological School
in Tempe, Ariz., will receive $210,000 a piece.
The task force met in Louisville three times between May 1998 and last
month. It has started developing a scenario of possible formulas to present
to the presidents of the racial/ethnic schools and colleges for discussion,
and will present a final plan to the NMD Committee for adoption. The task
force expects to complete its work before the June GAC meeting.
Task force members are Patricia Greene Brown, Mabel McLean, Judson
McConnell, Cordell Wynn, William Chapman and special consultants Sylvia
Galloway and Sam Robinson.
Shaping a new mission
Meanwhile, revising the GAC's mission strategy for dealing with
institutions of higher education is nothing new. The church's commitment to
the institutions, "as strong now as ever," has taken different directions
at various times over the years, according to the NMD Committee's
recommendations.
Each situation has required a "contextual strategy," one that would be
appropriate for the particular circumstances of the institutions, the
people served and the priorities and resources of the church. Motivating
these various approaches has been an awareness that racial/ethnic people
were denied access to majority institutions, both private and public, the
committee's recommendations said.
"The institutions founded by the Presbyterian Church were an attempt to
correct this situation," the recommendations continued. "The agenda remains
unfinished as racism continues to be [a] negative force in our society."
Several members of the GAC and its staff and several leaders of the
racial/ethnic schools have felt that "we are in a time when the mission
strategy of the church with its partner institutions should be reviewed and
articulated anew for the current situation."
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