Trinity Church Wall Street Awards $4.6 Million in Grants to Support Faith Communities in the U.S. and Around the World
Funding will go to 25 organizations that include Seminaries, Churches and Dioceses throughout the United States, Africa, and Latin America
NEW YORK, NY, June 15, 2021 – Trinity Church Wall Street has awarded more than $4.6 million in grants to 25 organizations dedicated to advancing leadership development and building sustainable financial capacity in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion and beyond.
The 25 grants announced today range from $40,000 to $750,000. The grantees are working on a range of projects, to advance faith and skills-based leadership for both clergy and lay people and real estate development projects to deliver positive social impact and sustain ministries for generations.
“Trinity continues our mission of helping churches create ministries that will not only impact their communities immediately but continue to help in years to come,” said the Rev. Phillip A. Jackson, Priest-in-Charge of Trinity Church Wall Street. “We also believe in the importance of training the next generation of leaders in the Episcopal Church and are excited to announce almost $2 million in grants targeted to this purpose.”
The Hispanic Youth Leadership Academy is one of Trinity’s new grantees and is receiving $90,000. The grant will be used to galvanize the energy of young people for leadership in Christian communities. “The goal is to create a pipeline of Episcopal Latinx faith leaders from high school to their ministries, both ordained and lay,” said Robert Garris, Managing Director for Leadership Development at Trinity. “The Hispanic Youth Leadership Academy (HYLA) is in a unique position to engage this work because of its 17 years of experience training and mentoring young Latinx faith leaders.”
Trinity is also working with St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Seattle, within the Diocese of Olympia in Washington state, for the first time. A participant in the inaugural Gift of Place cohort of churches launched by Trinity in partnership with the CEEP Network in 2020, St. Luke’s will use a $200,000 grant to fund predevelopment costs of an affordable housing project. The 130-year-old church is in Seattle’s rapidly gentrifying Ballard neighborhood and is directly experiencing the impact of the affordable housing crisis in the U.S.
“While the neighborhood includes very affluent residents, there is still a significant shortage of affordable housing as evidenced by the 40 tents set up just across the street from the church entrance. This grant is an important first step in a project that will transform an entire city block with multiple new buildings encompassing affordable and mixed-income housing as well as space for community services; revitalizing the neighborhood and strengthening the church both missionally and financially.,” said the Rev. James Clark, Managing Director of Mission Real Estate Development at Trinity.
Several dioceses in Africa and Latin America are also receiving grants, including the Diocese of Honduras, which received $180,000 last summer and now will receive an additional $60,000 to go towards the completion of renovations to a local school. The money will help with much needed repairs from hurricane damage and to ensure students can return safely to the classroom while following COVID-19 guidelines.
“These grants will advance a church that is building more just communities through investments in both place and people, said Neill Coleman, Chief Philanthropy Officer at Trinity. “We are investing in sustainable financial capacity for churches, and leaders who will bring social impact in their communities, locally, nationally and internationally. It is an honor and a blessing to work with these partners living our faith across our Communion.”
In addition to the 25 grants advancing Trinity’s commitment to the work of leadership development and mission real estate development, Trinity’s spring grants cycle includes an additional 75 grants totaling $10.4 million to support New York City- based nonprofits working for racial justice and housing affordability.
The grantees are:
- Nonprofit Finance Fund $500,000
- Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, NY Feasibility Study $200,000
- St. Luke’s Episcopal Church $200,000
- New York State Council of Churches $100,000
- Diocese of Mbeere, Kenya $480,000
- Diocese of Nakuru, Kenya $375,000
- Diocese of Central Zimbabwe $300,000
- Diocese of Freetown, Sierra Leone $275,000
- Diocese of Rift Valley, Tanzania $114,000
- Diocese of Lweru, Tanzania $42,000
- Diocese of Honduras $60,000
- Berkeley Divinity School at Yale $150,000
- Union Theological Seminary $750,000
- Diocese of Western Tanganyika $40,000
- Partnership for Renewal $100,000
- Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina $120,000
- Wesley Theological Seminary $100,000
- Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities $100,000
- Hispanic Youth Leadership Academy $90,000
- The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St. George in the East $60,000
- The Episcopal Church Foundation $100,000
- Princeton Theological Seminary $100,000
- The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan $100,000
- United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia $50,000
- Auburn Theological Seminary $100,000
About Trinity Church Wall Street
Now in its fourth century, Trinity Church Wall Street is a growing and inclusive Episcopal parish of more than 1,200 members that seeks to serve and heal the world by building neighborhoods that live Gospel truths, generations of faithful leaders, and sustainable communities. The parish is guided by its core values: faith, integrity, inclusiveness, compassion, social justice, and stewardship. Members come from the five boroughs of New York City and surrounding areas to form a racially, ethnically, and economically diverse congregation. More than 20 worship services are offered every week at its historic sanctuaries, Trinity Church and St. Paul’s Chapel, the cornerstones of the parish’s community life, worship, and mission, and online at trinitywallstreet.org. The parish welcomes approximately 2 million visitors per year.