2023 Grantees

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Jump to:  Emerging Gospel Community Grants — Innovation Grants  —  Campus Ministry Grants — Youth Leadership Development Grants — Connectional Ministries Grants

2023 Emerging Gospel Community Grantees

Sudanese Presbyterian Fellowship                            

Presbytery: Northern New England

Amount Awarded: $5,000                                                     

Welcoming all; worship language is Nuer and English when guests are present; Success means growing in God; success encourages people to move forward in faith; The community needs strengthening through worship. Worship will bind the community together; We will use this grant with our tithes and offering and other contributions to cover the rental expenses.

Hope Church of New York                                                

Presbytery: New York City

Amount Awarded: $20,000                                                   

Hope Church of New York is a community that reaches out to the unchurched among Korean speaking immigrants and English speaking 2nd & 3rd generation immigrants in the Queens New York area. We intend to be a new model of ministry for bilingual and intergenerational emerging communities.

2023 INNOVATION GRANTEES

Church of Gethsemane - Project Connect | Outside/In Words Writing Program               

Presbytery: New York City

Amount Awarded: $14,000

Project Connect seeks to expand its ministry through a writing program for men and women who are incarcerated, and for those who have returned home.  The program, called Outside/InWords, builds on our existing ministry to this community, creating a means for participants to process the trauma associated with incarceration.  Our ministry meets spiritual needs through the work of the Church and Project Connect, but we have identified that people who are denied access to basics such as housing and employment, have needs that can be met by accessing creativity through the arts.

Setauket Presbyterian Church | Open Door Exchange                                                                 

Presbytery: Long Island                                                           

Amount Awarded: $7,500

Open Door Exchange (ODE) was founded in 2015 by Setauket Presbyterian Church as the first furniture bank on Long Island. ODE connects donated furniture to individuals and families in need at no cost. We believe that furniture is necessary to building a safe and comfortable home for all.  We accept donated furnishings from our local community and display them in our warehouse. Our guests are offered the dignity of selecting their own furnishings. No one who visits us is ever required to prove their level of need.

Westminster Presbyterian Church |   Westminster Community Hub for Mental Health Support

Presbytery: Southern New England

Amount Awarded: $14,000

Westminster Presbyterian Church is creating a safe, secure, supportive space for individuals and organizations by providing a mental health resource hub for the West Hartford community. The role of the Westminster community hub will be to identify gaps that exist in mental health awareness, education, training, and access to services and work to fill those gaps by providing support, education, training, volunteers, and access to resources to strengthen and amplify the work of the many governmental and nonprofit organizations in our community.

 Common Ground | Common Ground Worship Collective                                                        

Presbytery: New York City

Amount Awarded: $8,000

Common Ground, a new worshipping community launched in 2019, is piloting a project centered on leadership development & equitable community practices. This project can best be summarized as an intersectional, community-driven nonprofit teaching radical belonging through decentralization & anti-supremacy. We accomplish this through programming - which includes small groups, community events, trainings, retreats and other experience-based learning modules that teach diversity, equity, and inclusion rooted in the Jesus Way. With this project, we hope to create a more just and generous world.

 First Presbyterian Church of Springfield | The SHARE Alliance                                                   

Presbytery: Northeast New Jersey

Amount Awarded: $14,000

The S.H.A.R.E. Alliance – (Sowing Hope And Reaping Equity) is a consortium of congregations and other interested parties in Springfield, NJ, dedicated to addressing food justice in our county. We believe that no one should involuntarily go to sleep hungry or wonder where their next meal would come from. The SHARE Alliance seeks to approach the issue with a three-prong tactic: Create availability of healthier food, via collection and donations. Coordinate their distribution, via a community pantry and kitchen. Promote their right use, via cross-cultural cooking classes. 

Albany Presbytery and Antioch University | Sustaining Congregations through Female Clergy Retention

Presbytery: Albany

Amount Awarded: $3,750

This community research project seeks to build pathways of advocacy for pastors, congregations and church governing structures to collectively support female clergy retention within the PC(USA).  Through a 2-year needs assessment, this initiative identifies contributing factors to the rise in female clergy attrition during early and mid-career stages.  The vision for this project is to promote congregational vitality by supporting long-term vocations for female clergy as they seek to faithfully serve their local congregations.

The Lighthouse Counseling Network, Inc. | The Lighthouse Counseling Network, Inc.

Presbytery: Eastern Korean

Amount Awarded: $6,750

The Lighthouse Counseling Network (LCN) has a mission to provide accessible Christian counseling services to the greater Northern New Jersey region, led by a network of local presbyterian churches and supported by other denomination affiliated churches.          

Interfaith Prison Partnership | Adopt A Prison              

Presbytery: Hudson River

Amount Awarded: $4,500

Adopt A Prison encourages community support for incarcerated people.  We envision a world in which our neighbors in prison receive opportunities for rehabilitation, healing, and spiritual development so they can return successfully to civilian life.   When the community participates in this work, the welfare of the incarcerated improves, as well as the welfare of the community itself.  Our unique, innovative approach brings together elected officials, prison superintendents, NYS correctional officials, and local non-profits to share information and expertise for the benefit of all.

John Fong Consulting Agency | Hybrid Micro Outreach to Help Small Churches Grow

Presbytery: Western New York

Amount Awarded: $2,500

One of John’s goals for the first year of my Innovation grant was to identify ways to be more impactful. What he learned was that the hybrid relational outreach program can help any size church grow, but he had to help churches establish hybrid authenticity before he could really help them grow. The next thing he learned was that presbytery partnership made the process more effective because churches felt leadership support and initiative. The vision for the second year Innovation grant is to incorporate establishing hybrid church authenticity, church growth practices and presbytery partnerships.

First Presbyterian Church of Chili | First Presbyterian Church of Chili Food Cupboard

Presbytery: Genesee Valley

Amount Awarded: $2,500

The vision for our Cupboard is built around Matthew 25:35 "I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me drink."  The First Presbyterian Church of Chili became aware two years ago of families in our geographical area lacking in nutritional needs.  We then set about establishing a Food Cupboard in conjunction with Foodlink of Rochester to end hunger by providing emergency food, hope, and a bridge to self-sufficiency.  When we opened our doors in June of 2021 we had between 3 and 4 families taking advantage of our services.  This past March, we served 87 households and fed 301 people.             

First Presbyterian Church of Oneida | Community Outreach Center                                     

Presbytery: Utica                                                                                              

Amount Awarded: $5,000

The second phase of our Community Center Outreach Project will be youth centered.  This grant request is to obtain funds to rehabilitate a full gymnasium and purchase athletic equipment for area youth to have a safe place to go where connections are made and love is exhibited.  Youth are currently restricted to our game room and lounge.  The gym floor is unsafe.  Having a gym floor will allow us to reach out to 3 organizations we are already partnering with - Oneida City Police, Madison County Youth Bureau, and Bridges - this targeting specific teens who could truly benefit by this.

Nassau and Witherspoon Presbyterian Churches | Bending the Moral Arc Courageous Conversation

Presbytery: Coastlands

Amount Awarded: $7,500

Imagine a fellowship of small group participants transformed through courageous conversations on race and justice. At annual retreats, group leaders would report actions taken that are bending the moral arc toward justice in their paired churches, in their presbytery, in their cities, and within the larger community. Imagine a growing national fellowship of transformed people acting as agents of change in their communities. This is the vision for this work.

2023 CAMPUS MINISTRY GRANTEES

University at Albany | Protestant Campus Ministry

Presbytery: Albany

Amount Awarded: $2,500

Princeton Presbyterians of the Westminster Foundation | UKirk TCNJ Campus Ministry

Presbytery: Coastlands

Amount Awarded: $2,500

Boston University and UMass of Boston | International Students, Inc.                            

Presbytery: Boston

Amount Awarded: $2,500                                           

Cornell University | Protestant Cooperative Ministry (PCM)                                       

Presbytery: Susquehanna Valley

Amount Awarded: $2,500

Columbia University, John Jay College, Fordham University, and others | LaMP Campus Ministry

Presbytery: New York City

Amount Awarded: $2,500

Plymouth State University | United Campus Ministries                                                  

Presbytery: Northern New England

Amount Awarded: $2,500

Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary | Princeton Presbyterians of the Westminster Foundation

Presbytery: New Brunswick

Amount Awarded: $2,500

New York University/The New School/downtown NYC colleges | PRiSM Student Ministries

Presbytery: New York City

Amount Awarded: $2,500                                           

Rutgers University | Rutgers Protestant Campus Ministries                                         

Presbytery: New Brunswick

Amount Awarded: $2,500

The Sage Colleges | Campus Ministries at Sage      

Presbytery: Albany

Amount Awarded: $2,500                                                                                                  

SUNY Stony Brook | Protestant Campus Ministry 

Presbytery: Long Island

Amount Awarded: $2,500

SUNY Delhi | Delhi Campus Ministry                     

Presbytery: Susquehanna Valley

Amount Awarded: $2,500                                           

University at Buffalo | Campus Church ConneXion

Presbytery: Western New York

Amount Awarded: $2,500

University of Rochester | Protestant Chapel Community                                                

Presbytery: Genesee Valley

Amount Awarded: $2,500

Union College | Campus Protestant Ministry                  

Presbytery: Albany

Amount Awarded: $2,500

2023 YOUTH LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT GRANTEES

Eastern Korean American Presbytery | Korean-American College Student Joint Vision Formation

Presbytery: Eastern Korean American

Amount Awarded: $7,500

The Korean American Christian College Student Joint Vision Formation event was designed for Korean students from Korea and the States to grow in spiritual maturity and broaden their Perspective and thereafter create an opportunity for continued fellowship. To fulfill this purpose, participants from both countries will have fellowship and serve in the mission together.

Ecclesia Ministries, Inc. - common cathedral | CityReach                                                   

Presbytery: Boston

Amount Awarded: $7,000

Common cathedral has worked for over 20 years addressing the issue of homelessness in Boston. The vision of CityReach is to build relationships between youth, young adults, and their adult chaperones with common cathedral community who have experienced or are currently experiencing homelessness in Boston through listening, learning, and reflecting. Six to eight weekend programs are planned each year. By the end of the 20-hour overnight program, groups will have decided on actionable projects to address issues of homelessness in their hometowns as well as opportunities to continue to connect with the common cathedral community

Presbytery of Genesee Valley |  Finger Lakes Youth Ministry                                            

Presbytery: Genesee Valley and Geneva

Amount Awarded: $5,500

FLYM began in 2022 with funding from the Synod. This program aimed to work collaboratively with the Presbyteries of Geneva and Genesee Valley to create high-quality faith formation programming for youth and young adults ages 12-25 within the Presbytery and neighboring presbyteries. The program was successful in its first year, spurring the creation of Genesee Valley’s Youth and Young Adult Working Group which now has the capacity to lead the initiative on its own.

Princeton Presbyterians of the Westminster Foundation | Princeton Presbyterians’ Pilgrimage to Taize

Presbytery: New Brunswick

Amount Awarded: $7,500

“Princeton Presbyterians’ Pilgrimage to Taizé” invites undergraduate and graduate students from Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary on an adventure to the Taizé Community in France. We will worship and work beside young people from around the world for a week in Taizé. This pilgrimage will foster a shared, Spirit-filled commitment to further efforts toward peace and justice in our life together as disciples of Jesus Christ on the campuses we serve.

Korean Church of Boston | Ransom Youth Group Mentor Program                             

Presbytery: Boston

Amount Awarded: $4,000

The vision for the Ransom Youth Group Mentor Program is to ensure every teenager at the Korean Church of Boston has two or three godly adults in their lives to love them and foster their relationship with Christ. We hope that connecting students with older Christians at church will help model a faith-filled life, develop spiritual formation, and strengthen intergenerational bonds within the community. Our youth will personally learn how to lead others to Christ. The budget for 2023 shows expenses of $3,800. The Youth Minister is Kyung Mi Bae.

First Presbyterian Church of Youngstown | Red Sweater Youth                                        

Presbytery: Western New York

Amount Awarded: $2,000

Red Sweater Youth (RSY) is a project to engage youth in our community to be Good Samaritan leaders. RSY expands our VBS program to create a component for youth to receive Peer Ministry Leadership training that equips them to affirm and welcome their neighbors. Using quotes from Mr. Rogers and the Good Samaritan parable, youth will be able to confidently take action and ask their peers, “Won’t you be my neighbor?” Mr. Rogers. The new pastor, Rev. Bob Hagel, used the PML program in his previous church.

United Presbyterian Church of Paterson | Safe Space Summer Camp                              

Presbytery: Northeast New Jersey

Amount Awarded: $7,500

To recruit and train the young campers who may become the next generation of counselors from the community and to train a new camp director in the procedures required by state law. The camp has been in operation for more than thirty years. It is well known in the community and the presbytery; it receives support from individual churches in the presbytery.

Good Success Academies, Inc | School to Life Initiative - Summer Employment Program

Presbytery: Northeast New Jersey

Amount Awarded: $7,000

The School to Life Initiative Summer Employment program empowers youth to be the leaders of the future. The initiative works to ensure that youth, especially minority youth, will be successful in education, careers and adult life. We do this in the summer employment by providing paid work experience for students completing the academic year program. We also provide college planning workshops during the summer. Our vision: Youth ready for life beyond high school. The Rev. Allen Shelton is Executive Director.

Clinton Presbyterian Church | Shelby Dickinson Youth Fellows for Community Outreach

Presbytery: Boston

Amount Awarded: $7,000

The Shelby Dickinson Youth Fellows for Community Outreach lead the congregation in mission and connection with local advocacy and direct service groups through inviting speakers, leading hands-on projects, and providing joyful space for connection and creative collaboration. The pastor is the Rev. Meagan Manas.

Emerging Gospel Communities

Innovation Grants

Campus Ministries

Youth Leadership Development