wfn.org | Grants Provide Workers for Projects

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (271
notes).

Note 271 by UMNS on Aug. 14, 1997 at 16:00 Eastern (3117 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:    Ralph E. Baker                                   
459(10-21-71B){271}
            Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470                         Aug. 14,
1997

AmeriCorps grants make workers available
to Communities of Shalom in four cities

by United Methodist News Service

      Four shalom communities, with roots in the United Methodist
Church, soon will receive a total of 52 workers, who will be
assigned and supported by the AmeriCorps federal program.
      According to Lynda Byrd, national director for Communities of
Shalom, the teams will serve in Shalom Zones in Houston, Miami,
Charleston, S.C., and Albany, N.Y.  Houston will be assigned 12
workers; Miami, 14; Charleston, 10; and Albany, 16. 
      The grants from Americorps will total $610,600, not counting
local matching funds provided by the churches and communities.
      AmeriCorps is a nationwide program, initiated by the Clinton
Administration, that connects education and community service. 
Under the program, according to Byrd, participants may receive a
stipend for their service or they may receive a financial award to
pay education costs in exchange for their work, ~comparable to a
work-study program.~
      The program tends to tap people from the community, she said,
because they are aware of the needs and situations and are better
able to do what is necessary in that setting. People also are
brought in from other communities to work on projects, she said. 
      They go through an intense training process. Most of this
year~s workers had their training in July, according to Byrd. 
Currently administrative processes are being developed and the
work with the projects will begin in October.
      Although the projects will be carried out ecumenically, seed
money from the church helped attract the additional federal
funding, said Byrd.
      In Houston, the program will focus on children~s health and
educational needs, and will include immunizations and mentoring in
poverty neighborhoods.  
      In Miami one focus will be on youth who have legal or
employment problems and will include job training and making
banking and financial services available.  
      An emphasis in Charleston will be community development.  In
Albany reading enrichment and after school mentoring will be a
focus.
      ~This program has brought a real infusion of enthusiasm,~
said Byrd. ~It tells our communities of shalom
that what they are doing is on a par with other programs going on
in the country.~
      Bishop Joseph Sprague of the Chicago Area, who first proposed
the Shalom Zone concept in the 1992 United Methodist General
Conference and now heads the program, said the communities of
shalom were designed to evoke this kind of response from
government. 
      ~Cooperative efforts between the church and other
neighborhood institutions signal a much more hopeful future for
the people,~ he said.
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