ECCC Awarded Becoming Beloved Community Grant
We are thrilled to announce that Episcopal Camps & Conference Centers has received a $10,000 Becoming Beloved Community grant.
The intent for these grants is to build capacity and increase Episcopal parish, diocesan, and agency engagement in four primary fields: telling the truth about our churches and race, proclaiming the dream of Beloved Community, practicing Jesus’ way of healing and reconciliation, and repairing the breach in institutions and society.
ECCC has received an Impact grant, intended to “grow capacity, impact, and reach of communities and institutions already working to advance racial justice, healing, and reconciliation. “ Specifically, our project will use the Episcopal Church’s Becoming Beloved Community resources to create an Inclusion, Equity & Cultural Competency Guide for camps and conference centers and pilot programs to refine and use the guide. The goal is to create environments and programming that foster deep, authentic representation and inclusion across Episcopal camping and retreat ministries.
We have outlined five main components:
Convene leadership from camps and conference centers to participate in the Sacred Ground Dialogue Series and become the guide’s design team.
Facilitate an in-person retreat with the design team that will culminate with an Inclusion, Equity & Cultural Competency Guide for Camps and Conference Centers and a workshop series for summer camp leadership to implement the guide’s practices.
ECCC will invite a second group of leaders to participate in the Sacred Ground Dialogue Circle. This group will become pilot programs to use and refine the newly created guide.
Facilitate an in-person workshop that uses Beloved Community Story Sharing and introduces the newly created guide and how to facilitate that work at their individual centers.
Provide centers with facilitated assessments on their individual and organization-wide cultural competency, including behavior during conflict.
We have just been notified that our project proposal was funded, and look forward to sharing plans and details with our community about what’s next. It is incredible to see that the Episcopal Church is investing $350,600 to catalyze the church’s work of racial healing, reconciliation and justice, and we are honored and galvanized to be a part of it.
