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Luce Foundation Awards $300,000 to Faith And The City Leadership Institute

Faith And The City: News Release, Jan. 17, 2005

The Faith And The City Leadership Institute announced that it has received a grant of $300,000 from The Henry Luce Foundation to help fund the institute’s first three years of operation. The institute is an interfaith leadership-development initiative designed to bring a broader moral dimension to civic dialogue in the 20-county Atlanta metropolitan community. The institute was developed and is administered by Faith And The City, an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization that has initiated a range of programs to nurture a sense of community throughout the metro area and encourage active engagement with public issues by people of all faiths.

“Our leadership institute participants are recruited from the ranks of religious leaders and emerging religious leaders from the Atlanta metro area and its diverse range of neighborhoods and congregations,” explained Rev. Elizabeth Mitchell Clement, director of the Faith And The City Leadership Institute. “Our inaugural class will reflect a cultural, ethnic, and racial cross-section of the metro area, including Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and Baha’is. Our goal is even greater religious diversity in future classes.”

The Faith And The City Leadership Institute, with 21 participants in its first annual class, began an abbreviated pilot program this month. The program will meet monthly and conclude in June 2005. A full version of the program and a new class of participants will operate September 2005 through June 2006. Institute participants will learn through theory and practice to enhance their public leadership skills. “At the heart of this leadership project is dialogue – a process by which we deepen our understanding of issues and what we value most, in which neighbors learn from and with each other, and out of which we act for the benefit of our children and grandchildren,” Rev. Clement explained.

According to Doug Gatlin, executive director of Faith And The City, the Luce funds will cover about half of the institute’s costs for its first three years. “We are deeply grateful for the grant and very pleased to partner with The Henry Luce Foundation in this vital leadership development program,” he said. “This grant will enable us to make our pilot program operational while we raise funds to operate the Institute on a permanent basis.” A small portion of the funds will support the organization’s efforts to share the Faith And The City concept with other metro communities interested in launching similar initiatives.

Faith And The City developed institute plans in partnership with three Atlanta-based seminaries – Candler School of Theology at Emory University, the Interdenominational Theological Center, and Columbia School of Theology, which also serves as the organization’s fiscal agent for all funding, including the Luce grant. Faith And The City has worked with these institutions since it was founding in 1999 and more recently with McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, which will share in the Institute’s ongoing administration.

The late Henry R. Luce, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time Inc., established The Henry Luce Foundation in 1936. Today it has assets of about $700 million. The Foundation’s grant making focuses on interdisciplinary initiatives in higher education, increased understanding between Asia and the United States, the study of religion and theology, scholarship in American art, opportunities for women in science and engineering, and environmental and public policy programs. For more information, visit www.hluce.org.

Faith And The City, an Atlanta based nonprofit organization, has helped enhance graduate seminary curricula, published opinions on public issues, televised weekly interfaith public affairs dialogues, sponsored forums, created interracial and interfaith congregational partnerships, and conducted a range of other programs to encourage people of all faiths to engage in public discussions of critical issues.