The Acts of Convention

Resolved, That this General Convention recognize the need to continue existing Beloved Community work in the upcoming two years alongside the work that may be underway to establish an Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice dedicated to the long-term work of becoming the Beloved Community, as proposed in Resolution 2022-A125 by the Presiding Officers’ Working Group on Truth Telling, Reckoning, and Healing; and be it further

Resolved, That this Convention direct the continuation of the Presiding Officers’ Advisory Group for Beloved Community Implementation, with members appointed by the Presiding Bishop and President of the House of Deputies, to oversee this biennium’s Beloved Community work in coordination with Executive Council and the staff of the Episcopal Church Center and also with the new Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice as it is established, and to report on this work to the 81st General Convention; and be it further

Resolved, That the 80th General Convention request that the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance allocate $550,000 for the biennium of 2022-2024 for continuing current efforts to respond to racial injustice and grow a Beloved Community of healers, justice makers and reconcilers, and that such monies be utilized to:

• Make Beloved Community grants to agencies and dioceses and other affiliated entities of The Episcopal Church for the establishment of programmatic activities aimed at addressing the issue of racial reconciliation, such as speaker series, sacred conversations, racial reconciliation workshops, and any such activities that promote the purpose of this resolution, with $450,000 allocated specifically for these grants;
• Plan and host Building Beloved Community conferences, with a biennium budget of $100,000;
• Engage conversations with ethnic ministry groups, interim bodies and other church organizations to dialogue about the specific ways systemic racism influences and afflicts ability to participate in building the Beloved Community through their ministries (with the understanding that funds and staff to support virtual meetings is already embedded in the Ethnic Ministries and Racial Reconciliation budgets, and that the General Convention Office can also support virtual meetings with interim bodies);

And be it further

Resolved, That the Joint Standing Commission on Program Budget and Finance consider a budget allocation of $550,000 for the implementation of this resolution.