wfn.org | ELCA Distributes 2001 'In the City for Good' Grants

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 8, 2001

ELCA DISTRIBUTES 2001 'IN THE CITY FOR GOOD' GRANTS
01-147-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) has awarded $436,465 in grants to new urban ministry initiatives
illustrating a potential for transforming lives, congregations and
communities in U.S. cities.  An "In the City for Good" fund team
selected 35 projects from 66 proposals it received in the program's
third year.  The size of the grants ranged from $2,000 to $25,000.
     The ELCA awarded grants to projects in Mobile, Ala.; Los Angeles
and Ontario, Calif.; Washington, D.C.; Decatur, Ga.; Aurora and Chicago,
Ill.; Sioux City, Iowa; Wichita, Kan.; Takoma Park, Md.; Minneapolis and
St. Paul, Minn.; Omaha, Neb.; New Orleans; Worcester, Mass.; Camden and
West New York, N.J.; Brooklyn and New York, N.Y.; Portland, Ore.;
Allentown, Lancaster and Philadelphia, Pa.; Fort Worth, Texas; Salt Lake
City, Utah; Wheeling, W.Va.; and Madison, Wis.
     "Overall I was impressed with the amount of aggressive ministry
going on in the urban areas of the ELCA," said the Rev. Jerrett L.
Hansen, mission director, ELCA Division for Outreach, Baltimore.  "The
grants indicated a strong base of impressive work in many areas."
Hansen serves on the fund team and leads the division's urban team of
consultants.
     "While many grant requests were for more traditional urban
ministry components, like after school programs, there were many that
were imaginative and creative with much of the focus still on youth and
young adults," said Hansen.
     "There is a growing body of urban ministry in the ELCA that is
focused on transformation of peoples' lives, our congregations and the
community in which the ministry is located.  Places where that
transformational vision was clearly present are  growing from year to
year," Hansen added.
     "As we have a chance to see the work from previous years' grants,
the In the City for Good fund team is becoming clearer about what kinds
of things are truly transformational kinds of ministry," said the Rev.
David D. Daubert, director for renewal of congregations, ELCA Division
for Outreach, Chicago.  Daubert chairs the fund team.
     "The grants we funded offer creative and innovative ways to do
ministry in various urban settings," said Daubert.  "There is still,
however, a need to continue to help Lutherans think outside the box and
expand the kinds of creative thinking needed to move the urban church
forward."
     Funded projects fit several categories, such as community
development, strategic planning for mission, training for leadership,
outreach to ethnic communities and strengthening of ethnic ministries.
They exhibited potential for transforming people's lives and
congregations and for transforming communities into desirable places to
live, work and worship.
     Those with plans to develop a new urban ministry project submit
grant applications to the synod in which the ministry resides.  The ELCA
is organized into 65 synods.  The synods forward applications to the In
the City for Good fund team.
     The fund team reads, evaluates, ranks and decides which proposals
receive grants.  It consists of 15 people -- urban pastors and laity,
churchwide representatives and representatives of institutions and
agencies of the church -- appointed by the ELCA presiding bishop and the
Division for Outreach.
     The team plans to distribute up to $500,000 each year through
2008.  If resources remain available, the grants may be awarded after
2008.
     In the City for Good grants are used for one year as seed money
for projects that can be self-sustaining beyond the period of the grant.
They are not used to pay salaries.
     The ELCA's 1997 Churchwide Assembly adopted "In the City for
Good," a decade-long emphasis on urban ministry.  A key dimension of the
effort is to provide grants to congregations, institutions and agencies
of the church in central cities, suburbs and sprawling metropolitan
areas.
     The fund was created with money from several sources, including an
initial $1 million grant from the Lutheran Brotherhood Foundation.
Lutheran Brotherhood is a member-owned fraternal benefit society based
in Minneapolis.
     In 1999, the ELCA awarded $347,179 in grants ranging in size from
$1,000 to $30,000 to 23 urban ministry projects.  In 2000, the church
gave $493,957 in grants, ranging from $2,500 to $28,000, to 38 urban
ministry initiatives.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html