Urban Training Center Awarded Ford Foundation Grant
Diocesan Press Service. November 10, 1965 [XXXVII-6]
The Urban Training Center For Christian Mission, Chicago, Illinois, was awarded a grant of $600,000 by the Ford Foundation in October. A joint announcement of the grant was made by the Foundation and by Dr. Joseph Merchant, president of the board of the Center, and its executive director, the Rev. James P. Morton.
The Center, supported ecumenically by 16 major American denominations, has begun its second year of operation involving annually more than 200 clergy, seminarians, and laity (Protestant and Roman Catholic).
The Ford Grant will expand the Center's program by providing fellowships for clergy as well as internships for Center graduates who need further, specialized training elsewhere. Priority will be given to pastors from Negro denominations, store front churches and other informally organized fellowships. A new member of the staff, director of fellowships and internships, will be chosen to administer the program and to recruit approximately 50 men each year for this training period.
Foundation Funds will also enable the Center to engage urban experts in housing, job creation, education, and community development as well as to design ways of evaluating the effectiveness of the program over the next four years.