Key Dates
Application |
2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Applications Open | Sunday, September 1 | |
| Online Grant Inquiry Orientation Meeting | Tuesday, September 24 | |
| Applications Close | Friday, November 1 | |
| Deliberation | November 19, December 10 & December 17 (optional) | |
Implementation |
2025 | |
| Awards Announced | Monday, January 6 | |
| Online Orientation Session | Tuesday, January 21 | |
| Checks received, Grants begin | Saturday, February 1 | |
Documentation |
||
| 6 Month Interim Report Due | Friday, August 1 | |
| 12 Month Final Report Due | Sunday, January 31 | 2026 |
Purpose
Community Engagement grants are directed for community outreach, more specifically for community organizing and community engagement by congregations in the Presbytery of Baltimore. The grant range per applicant is $3,000 – $10,000. The Commission on Reconciliation will award $50,000 in total for the 2025 year.
- Faith-based community organizing is the way a congregation partners with its local community to work for change/transformation, together. It involves deep listening and leadership development to move toward joint action. This is a specific form of community engagement which is built on relational meetings, power analysis, action and evaluation.
- Community engagement is a broader term to reflect ways in which a local congregation works collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, common interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of the community members.
Use of Funds
- Funding may be requested for new initiatives or to strengthen current community organizing and community engagement activities. Funds, therefore, may be used for training or mentoring activities in addition to expenses incurred in direct engagement.
- Grants will be awarded on an annual basis. However, applicants will be allowed to apply for additional funding in subsequent years.
Evaluation Criteria
- Engages the community that is geographically proximate to the applicant congregation
- Is intentional in building relationships between members of the congregation and members of the local community outside the congregation.
- Demonstrates an approach of “working with” the community, not doing something “for” or “to” the community.
- Issues or needs identified are for the sake of the community.
- Embraces the work of reconciliation through efforts to dismantle racism, alleviate suffering and/or bear public witness to the reconciling love of Christ.
A report evaluating the use of funds is required at six months and one year after the award. Congregations may not receive additional Enduring Witness funding until the report is submitted.
ALL UNSPENT GRANT FUNDS MUST BE RETURNED TO THE PRESBYTERY OF BALTIMORE.
