Vol.1, No. 2 Summer 1999
On July 13, 1999, 56 agencies received Annunciation Grants from the Incarnate Word Foundation totaling $296,477. These agencies serve St. Louis City and the surrounding Missouri counties, Kansas City, rural Missouri and East St. Louis, IL. The Annunciation Grants target programs that serve the poor, women, children, or the elderly.
Services provided through these grants run the gamut from summer youth programs to supportive services to homebound elderly. Many of the agencies funded are small, grassroots organizations. "Grassroots organizations can be at the forefront of creating innovative programs to meet community needs, but often encounter obstacles in attracting the interest of funders," explained Bridget McDermott Flood, IWF executive director. "The Incarnate Word Foundation has a strong interest in helping those organizations flourish."
Metropolitan Congregations United for St. Louis is an example of one of these grassroots efforts. This coalition’s goal is to build strong, integrated neighborhoods by empowering residents to be active participants in building community. This goal is a direct response to a spiritual calling to build a social fabric that includes all people. The Annunciation Grant will provide core leadership training in 20 congregations in the coming year. "Because the spiritual roots of the foundation are in the charism of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, the IWF welcomes agencies that are faith-based to become Annunciation grantees," said Ms. Flood. "Strong neighborhood religious institutions are building blocks for healthy communities."
The Annunciation Grants are awarded semiannually and are limited to $10,000 or less. The next deadline for applications is October 1st.
At-Risk Youth
BREM Catholic Social Ministry
Griffin Center
Pilgrim Temple Human Development Outreach Center
YWCA, St. Clair County
Youth in Need
Community Health & Wellness
Alzheimer’s Association
CSJ Care
Energycare
Jewish Family and Children’s Services/Hadassah
Lutheran Ministries Association
Mercer County Health Department
Randolph County Health Ministry
Redemptorist Center
Sarah Community
Senior Home Security
Truman Koch Welfare Association
Day Care
St. Engelbert FOCUS Daycare
St. Martin’s Child Center
Developmentally Disabled
Gateways
Domestic Violence
Fortress Outreach
Legal Services of Eastern Missouri
Lydia’s House
Education
Holy Rosary School
Loyola Academy
Renaissance Neighborhood Opportunity Center
University of the Third Age
Employment
Maria Droste Center
Health Care Access
Citizens for Missouri’s Children
HIV/AIDS
Coalition Empowering Families Affected by AIDS
Doorways
Housing
Cardinal Ritter Institute/Rosary House
Peter and Paul Community Services
St. Patrick Center
Hunger
Food Outreach
Resurrection Parish Food Pantry
Trinity Food Ministry
Immigration
CCVI Project – Mid-Missouri
Catholic Community Services
St. Louis Area Women Religious Collaborative Ministries
Incarceration
Center for Women in Transition
Girl Scout Council of Greater St. Louis
Immanuel Lutheran Church
Manasseh Ministry
Maternal/Child Health
Birthright of Hillsboro
Family Support Network
Nurses for Newborns
Whole Kids Outreach
Neighborhood Revitalization
Metropolitan Congregations United for St. Louis
Reform Organization of Welfare (ROWEL) REA
St. Louis Partnership for Children and Youth
Spirituality
Criminal Justice Ministry of St. Vincent De Paul
Life Is for Everyone Unlimited
Subacute Care
Ranken Jordan
Violence Prevention
Family Center, East St. Louis
St. Engelbert FOCUS School
Women and men religious are well-educated individuals with much to offer in ministry. For many, however, grantwriting and program planning are new skills required to bring the new ministries they envision to reality. IWF, in joint sponsorship with the U.S. Province of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, is hosting a workshop at Incarnate Word Academy in St. Louis to address this need. The workshop will be held on September 25th, 1999. Contact Jackie Metzler at 314-621-4090 to make reservations.
On April 8, 1999, IWF gave a $100,000 grant to Catholic Charities of St. Louis. The grant funds a computer network, TIER (Totally Integrated Electronic Record-keeping), for eight agencies that serve children:
The network will allow the agencies to collaborate more closely and to streamline services. It includes a comprehensive record-keeping system to enhance quality of service delivery and to provide more detailed reporting to governmental agencies and other funders.
"The development of the TIER network is essential if our agencies are to continue their ministry to care for troubled youth who require intense levels of social services to recover," said Sr. Helen Negri, executive director of Marygrove. "The network is a tool that will enable us to analyze our services and outcomes accurately and objectively and to see how we're doing collectively across the network."
IWF hosted six discussions in summer 1999 on the following aspects of effectively addressing the needs of children and adolescents.
"Through the roundtable program, community and agency leaders who work directly with young people are able to educate the foundation and the community at large about the challenges and opportunities to help our young people develop to their fullest potential," noted Bridget Flood.
As part of its commitment to spiritual health, the foundation invited Fred Douglas Smith, Jr., PhD, of the Interfaith Health Program, The Carter Center, Atlanta, to serve as a keynote speaker for the spirituality and youth roundtable. During his remarks, Dr. Smith emphasized that we should not label children "at-risk youth." Rather, we should view them as "children of promise," a term that emphasizes every child's unique talents that must be nurtured.
During his visit, Dr. Smith also shared insights at a breakfast meeting of leaders from a variety of religious denominations and philanthropic organizations. He emphasized the faith community's role in guiding youth so that young people can realize their potential as children of promise.
A complete report of this roundtable series will be available in fall 1999. An excerpt of Dr. Smith’s remarks appears below:
Keys to Children's Spiritual Growth
Many children live in "at-risk" environments that affect their spirituality -- their experience of transcending themselves and working toward an ultimate value, Dr. Smith said at the IWF roundtable on spirituality and youth. Detrimental environmental factors include socioeconomic poverty; moral poverty, which results when children have no adults to teach them what is right; spiritual poverty, or a sense of hopelessness; and lack of love.
To counteract these factors, Dr. Smith said, society needs to make promises to children that will assure their spiritual growth. First, the communtiy must promise to love the child, regardless of his or her race, religion, or socioeconomic status.
It must promis to teach children the values they need to live a moral life and pledge to protect them from the unsafe behaviors of others or themselves. He said each child must have prenatal care and early childhood education, and be empowered to participate in the community. The community should forgive young people when they go astray -- through "restorative justice" -- and provide education that prepares them for jobs and builds character.
On July 13-14, 1999, IWF sponsored a program planning and evaluation workshop for 45 foundation grantees as part of its involvement in the St. Louis Faith and Health Consortium. The workshop addressed:
Three Saint Louis University faculty members generously donated their time and expertise to plan the workshops and make the presentations:
Mary R. Domahidy, PhD, Chair, Department of Public Policy Studies
Elizabeth Baker, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, School of Public Health
Sharon M. Homan, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Public Health
An additional workshop on advanced evaluation techniques is planned for late fall 1999. Foundation grantees will receive an invitation to attend free of charge.
IWF is developing a process for awarding larger grants to agencies and collaborative groups under its Incarnate Word Foundation Grant program. The emphasis of this process is on the development of partnerships between the foundation and the grantee that extend beyond financial support of a particular project.
To apply, an agency's first step is to submit a letter of inquiry and brief concept paper that delineates the agency’s view of what a partnership might entail. In some cases, this letter of inquiry will be the start of a dialogue to refine a partnership relationship. The foundation is considering whether to pilot this grant process in fall 1999.
Peace always comes
To me
As I enter Guardian Angel.
Peace greets me when the door
opens.
Peace flows into me from the receptionist.
Peace is the greeting from the staff members:
A word, a hug, a pat on the back.
Peace bounces off the walls
And gives me the freedom
To work here
And help out here
Whenever I am needed.
Peace fills my heart as I work with
The young'uns: 3-1/2-, 4-, and
5-year olds,
Or with the seniors trying every day
to grow old gracefully.
Peace colors our activities and
outings and events.
Peace from Monday through Friday
With holy guardian angels.
Peace: How good it is to be here.
Mary Guilbeaux, Guardian Settlement Association
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