General Convention Special Program Gets Under Way
Diocesan Press Service. March 5, 1968 [63-2]
The Executive Council, at its February 20-22 meeting in Greenwich, Conn., acted decisively to implement the Episcopal Church's top priority "Crisis in American Life" program when it approved allocations of the 1968 funds for the program totalling $825,000.
The special program was proposed by Presiding Bishop Hines and adopted by the 62nd General Convention in September. In the words of Bishop Hines, it is an attempt to bring "people in the ghettos into areas of decision making by which their destiny is influenced" and to "encourage the use of political and economic power to support justice and self-determination for all men." The February Council action is the first major step toward this goal.
The largest single allocation was one of $700,000 to the Inter-Religious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), a not-for-profit New York corporation comprised of nine Protestant, Roman Catholic and Jewish religious bodies and social service agencies. It is headed by the Rev. Lucius Walker. Other allocations, totaling $125,000, were: $50,000 for emergency grants to Episcopal dioceses; $25,000 for other emergency grants and $50,000 to encourage coalitions of religious, business and private enterprise interests, dedicated to the eradication of the social ills of the deprived areas of this nation.
Bishop Hines described the "Crisis in American Life" program as a means "by which this church (the Episcopal Church) can take its place humbly and boldly alongside of, and in support of, the dispossessed and oppressed peoples of this country for the healing of our national life." Cautioning against seeing the solution of the national crisis in financial terms only, Bishop Hines said: "Unless our men, women and young people enlist in patterns of diocesan, parish and mission engagement, which involve them personally as well as financially, even the best efforts at this level will prove fruitless.
What is before us is not primarily a matter of money. Money can help if we take our hands off of its control, giving it because we realize that it is God's and not our own. But if we attempt to use money to 'buy our way' out of responsibility, the less credible we will appear to men and women struggling with their misery, and the less likely we are to build our part of a bridge between our alienation!"
The allocation to IFCO is to be paid on a "three to one" matching basis, thereby encouraging other like grants from participating agencies and outside sources. On March 1 the Episcopal Church will give IFCO $200,000 which must be matched by an additional $600, 000 from other sources before the remainder of the allocation is given. This $500, 000 will be paid in installments and will also be contingent upon IFCO obtaining matching funds on the same basis as above. The other allocations ($125,000) may, in accordance with the Charter for the Screening and Review Committee, also adopted by the Council at the February meeting, be disbursed at the discretion of the Presiding Bishop.
In addition to allocating funds for 1968, the Executive Council also took action to establish the mechanics for evaluating and approving or disapproving individual requests for grants in accordance with Resolution No. 6.submitted by the Joint Committee on Program and Budget and adopted by the 62nd General Convention. A Screening and Review Committee has been designated as the agency of Executive Council to evaluate individual applications for grants. These grants will be made in one of three categories: community self-determination on a national, metropolitan or neighborhood level; service to the poor, based on programs designed and controlled by those to be served; and training in community leadership.
All programs which are approved for funding by the Screening and Review Committee must be based on the fundamental principle of assisting the poor to organize themselves to have a full share in determining their own destiny; must be implemented and carried out without regard to race, creed or ethnic origin; and must not be used to support the activities or any individual or group advocating violence.
The Inter-Religious Foundation for Community Organization serves as a grant vehicle for religious institutions and foundations working to assist indigenous community organization. Its membership is comprised of: The Episcopal Church, The United Presbyterian Church, The United Church of Christ, The American Baptist Convention, The Methodist Church, The American Jewish Committee, The National Roman Catholic Committee for Community Organization, The Roman Catholic Council for Inter-racial Justice, and The Foundation for Voluntary Service. IFCO is designed to train indigenous community leaders as organizers and to coordinate the community organization activities of the member institutions.
The newly elected members of the Screening and Review Committee represent the broadest possible ethnic and geographic backgrounds. Presiding Bishop Hines serves as committee chairman. Mr. Prime S. Osborn, Jacksonville, Florida and the Very Rev. Gordon Gillette, Peoria, Illinois, represent the Executive Council. Mr. Osborn is Vice-President, the Law Department, of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. The Very Rev. Gordon Gillette is Dean of the Cathedral, the Diocese of Quincy. The Rev. Quinton E. Primo, Wilmington, Delaware, and The Rev. Canon St. Julian Simpkins, Rochester, New York, were nominated by the Union of Black Clergy and Laymen of the Episcopal Church. Father Primo is rector of St. Matthew's Church and President of the Community Training Foundation Incorporated, a program engaged in job training and placement for the unemployed and underemployed in vocational fields ranging from technical to secretarial. Canon Simpkins is Canon of the Cathedral and Director of Urban Work in the Diocese of Rochester. Mrs. Nadine Winter and Mrs. Dorothy Higley were nominated by the General Division of Women's Work of the Episcopal Church. Mrs. Winter is Director of The Hospitality House in Washington, D. C. Mrs. Higley, national Chairman of the General Division of Women's Work, resides in Norwich, New York.
The remaining six members of the Screening and Review Committee are representative of the poor: Mr. Vine Deloria, Jr., Denver, Colorado; Mr. Harold Hart-Nibbrig and Mrs. Josie Sanchez, Los Angeles, California; Mr. Esau Jenkins, Charleston, South Carolina; Mrs. Victoria Gray Adams, Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Mrs. Evelyna Antonetty, Bronx, New York. A seventh committee member representative of the poor will be elected later from the Appalachian region.
Mr. Deloria was formerly the Director of the Congress of American Indians. He is a consultant to the National Board of Indian Youth and is a representative of the American Indian at many grass roots levels. He is currently doing special study at the University of Denver Law School on legislation affecting the American Indian.
Mr. Hart-Nibbrig is Director of the Police Malpractices Complaint Center in the Watts section of Los Angeles and is a member of the Judiciary Committee of the Black Congress. Mrs. Sanchez works for the Educational Clearing House, an Office of Economic Opportunity project, and she is also involved in the Minority Funding Operation for Higher Institutions in California.
Mr. Jenkins pioneered the development of the Citizen Education Program, a grass roots literacy and adult education program. Mrs. Antonetty is working with the South Bronx Poverty Group and is associated with the Board of Education. She has also been actively involved in organizing rent strikes in the Bronx. Mrs. Adams has had wide experience in civil rights activities in Mississippi. A native of Hattiesburg, she has worked closely with the NAACP, SNCC, SCLC, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the Delta Ministry.
The Crisis in American Life program will involve total funds of approximately $9 million during the next three years. Of this total, $6 million (or $2 million per year) is a part of the General Church Program approved by Convention. Slighly over $2 million was allocated from the United Thank Offering of the Women of the Episcopal Church by the Triennial Meeting. The remainder, or slighly under $1 million, has first priority on UTO Funds to be allocated during the triennium.