August 3, 2010

NEW YORK – Trinity Wall Street awarded $1.4 million in second quarter grants to programs aimed at supporting micro-lending, job development and telecommunications in Africa; young adult leadership programs in America; education advocacy efforts in New York; and strengthening the bonds of the Anglican Communion, according to an Aug. 3 press release.

"These grants represent the people of a parish in lower Manhattan working in mutual partnership with people near and far, for a world of good," said the Rev. James H. Cooper, Trinity's rector, in the release. "The world is a better place when the presence of the church is felt in deep and lasting ways."

For a complete list of second quarter Trinity Grants Program awards go to http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/SecondQuarterTrinityGrants.pdf.

In Africa, Trinity continues its support of microfinance initiatives to encourage economic growth in Angola and Ghana with grants totaling more than $210,000. In Zambia, a grant of $65,500 supports and expands vocational training. A telecommunications grant in Sudan also provides $331,000 to be used to connect 10 dioceses to the Internet and support the provincial infrastructure, including the development of an Episcopal Church of the Sudan website. This funding builds on previous support, which has already connected the provincial office and nine other dioceses to the Internet, the release said.

"We are privileged to be partnering with faithful leaders in Africa," said the Rev. Canon James G. Callaway, deputy for Anglican partnership and faith formation at Trinity Wall Street, in the release. "We are learning from their efforts to sustain their ministries."

Trinity is supporting programs in the United States to help raise the next generation of leaders, with more than $250,000 grants across the country – from Connecticut to California – for young adult service programs that foster civic engagement, community, and spiritual growth, according to the release.

Trinity Grants is providing $245,000 in grants to organizations in metropolitan New York that support education advocacy and student engagement in connection with the All Our Children education initiative. All Our Children is sponsored by the Diocese of New York and Trinity Wall Street in response to a resolution passed at the 2007 diocesan convention that encouraged Episcopal parishes to connect with public schools. Trinity also is allocating $15,000 to churches in Monroe, Nyack and the Lower East Side that are partnering with their local public schools to strengthen public education, the release said.

"Trinity and the wider church have a long history of helping public schools in ways that work when help is needed. This most recent round of grants is a new chapter in that history," said the Rev. Canon Anne Mallonee, Trinity's vicar, in the release.

Episcopal News Service