Relief Funds to Underwrite Community-Based Response Spearheaded by Morgan’s Center for the Study of Religion and the City
Morgan State University (MSU) announced today that its James H. Gilliam, Jr. College of Liberal Arts (CLA) received a $150,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to advance community-based efforts and programs to address the critical challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Morgan grant comes as part of nearly $5 million that the Henry Luce Foundation has awarded nationwide to rapidly address COVID-19-related needs and relieve budget shortfalls during these unprecedented times.
The Center for the Study of Religion and the City (CSRC) at Morgan worked with the Black Church Food Security Network, BUILD Baltimore: Turnaround Tuesday workforce reentry program, and others to develop the successful grant proposal. The CSRC will steward the grant by tapping its existing network of community-based partnerships and alliances as a direct pipeline of access providing aid to Baltimore City communities that have been grossly impacted by COVID-19. Coinciding with other recently announced COVID-19 related relief awarded to Morgan, portions of this funding from the Luce Foundation will also be used to provide Morgan students with research stipends to help document and reflect on the work being executed through the CSRC.
“We are profoundly thankful to the Henry Luce Foundation for its support as we work collaboratively to mend our most vulnerable communities at a time that we find ourselves the most challenged,” said David K. Wilson, president of Morgan State University. “The important work that the Center for the Study of Religion and the City is engaged in underlies Morgan’s mission-driven commitment to community-based research and as a result of this support, strengthens the connections fostered with the communities that we serve.”
Disparities in cities like Baltimore have led to a disproportionate consequence in the wake of COVID-19 ranging from higher fatality rates to increased incidence of unemployment and more. Building upon and strengthening relationships with Baltimore’s religious organizations and civic groups, the CSRC will actively create pathways to access resources among partner groups who have establiDr. Harold D. Morales, associate professor of philosophy and religious studies at Morgan, the CSRC inspires, shapes, and supports student research and field work throughout Baltimore through partnerships with diverse religious groups, scholars, activists, community organizations, and policymakers. The CSRC serves as an epicenter for critical research from diverse disciplines and institutions, non-academic partners, undergraduate students, and potential graduate students.
“We are honored to have the Henry Luce Foundation’s support, for the opportunity to continue Morgan’s service to Baltimore, and to work with our community partners to address the City’s most pressing needs around food, Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management to help manage and process the allocation of grants, researchers and documentation of work during the 2020 summer.
The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to enrich public discourse by promoting innovative scholarship, cultivating new leaders, and fostering international understanding. EstabliPreeminent Public Urban Research University, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.
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