wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Mary Holmes won't lose Joy Offering funds

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7443 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Mary Holmes won't lose Joy Offering funds

GAC approves 1-year extension of support for troubled college

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - The Presbyterian Church (USA) will continue its financial
support of beleaguered Mary Holmes College through November 2003.

The General Assembly Council (GAC) approved a recommendation from its
National Ministries Division Committee (NMDC) that the West Point, MS,
college continue receiving funds from the annual Christmas Joy Offering. 

The council's Mission Support Services (MSS) Committee, which has worked with
NMDC on a review of the Presbyterian-related racial-ethnic college, concurred
with its recommendation.

Members of the two committees met briefly Friday to receive the findings of a
three-member work group of NMDC and MSS committee members appointed earlier
this year to help decide whether it makes financial sense for the
denomination to continue supporting the two-year College.

The church's contribution - $286,560 this year - is crucial to the survival
of the college, whose financial condition has been compromised in recent
years by declining enrollment and a deterioration of its facilities.

In June, the GAC set four conditions for continued funding: a comprehensive
fund-raising strategy; a business plan addressing its financial problems; a
vision for changing its image and mission through new programming; and a
10-percent increase in enrollment for the fall semester.

Mary Holmes was given until Oct. 15 to meet those goals, but the work group
members said the institution was in compliance and recommended that it
continue receiving Christmas Joy Offering funds through November 2003, and be
reviewed again then.

The MSS committee asked the work group to provide updates on conditions at
Mary Holmes during GAC meetings next year.

The criteria set in motion in June and required in order for Mary Holmes to
continue receiving Christmas Joy Offering funding:  
The work team said on Friday that Mary Holmes President Nathaniel Jackson has
developed a fund-raising strategy and a list of prospective contributors; the
college has created a business plan implementing a 26-percent reduction in
faculty and staff and a 20-percent reduction in payroll; its trustees have
approved a strategic plan to change the "culture" and image of the
institution; and enrollment for the fall semester was 379, an increase of
22.3 percent.
Officials have reduced the number of program concentrations offered from 18
to three: early childhood education, cosmetology and liberal arts. 

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