wfn.org | Justice grants of $41,500 to serve wide-ranging needs

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

April 6, 2000 News media contact: Joretta Purdue ·(202) 546-8722·Washington
10-31-32-71B{184}

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - A dozen Peace With Justice grants, totaling $41,500,
have been awarded to a wide range of international and domestic projects for
the year 2000.

^From a rural shalom zone in South Carolina to environmental ministries in
California, from conflict transformation in war-torn Mozambique to efforts
to mitigate the effects of mining in the Philippines, these programs are an
expression of the United Methodist Social Principles and resolutions created
by the denomination's General Conference.

The funds for the projects come from the church's Peace with Justice Sunday
offering in June and are administered by a working committee in the United
Methodist Board of Church and Society.  Priority is given to United
Methodist local church justice efforts and projects affiliated with the
denomination. Some grants are awarded to efforts that focus on areas of
concern without a local connection to the denomination.

The largest grant this year, $5,475, will go to the Mozambique Annual
(regional) Conference. The money will support continued training in conflict
analysis and transformation begun in 1994.

INFACT, a program that works to deter children from smoking tobacco, has
been given $5,000 for its religious outreach program, which engages churches
and religious groups in this process.

The High Plans Consultation on Native American Ministries has been awarded
$5,000 to continue its justice ministries with Indians in the Dakotas,
Nebraska, Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone annual conferences.

The Southwest Texas Conference Board of Church and Society received $5,000
for a two-day conference on how to make a difference in justice issues.

The Montana Community Labor Alliance has been granted $5,000 to foster a
working relationship with 10 churches in each of four areas of Montana
regarding workers' justice issues.

Mindanao Philippines Conference Board of Church and Society received two
grants of $3,000 to conduct fact finding, education and advocacy around the
consequences of mining in two areas and the effects of the U.S.-Philippines
visiting military forces agreement on the human rights of Filipinos.

St. Elmo United Methodist Church and Alton Park Partners Inc. in
Chattanooga, Tenn., will use a $2,500 grant for the training and support of
home-based child care providers.

The Visayas Philippines Annual Conference Board of Church and Society will
receive $2,500 to fund an anti-militarism campaign in Bohol, Leyte and Cebu,
areas of conflict between government forces and rebels.

East Camden Shalom Zone in Camden, S.C., will receive $2,500 to help its
rural community residents access services for literacy education, health
awareness, sex education and local government.

A $1,525 grant will provide anti-violence training for women's leaders in
San Francisco Libre, Nicaragua, to help them offer a supportive community
for women trying to leave violent domestic situations.

The California-Pacific Annual Conference was awarded $1,000 for its
environmental ministries, with particular emphasis on Earth Week. This
program also reaches into the California-Nevada and Desert Southwest annual
conferences.

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United Methodist News Service
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