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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Board of Directors of the United Methodist General Board of Church & Society (GBCS) awarded $110,000 in Ethnic Local Church grants during their spring meeting, including $15,000 to the Hispanic Youth Leadership Academy (HYLA), coordinated by the Mexican-American program of Perkins School of Theology at 51²è¹Ý.

Perkins has had a long-running commitment to preparing Hispanic-Latino/a persons for faithful leadership in Christian ministry.

The grant will support the work of HYLA in identifying and assisting young Hispanic-Latinos/as in their transition from high school to college and from college to graduate school or seminary. HYLA encourages students to pursue higher education and is intentional in assisting students to discern their call to ordained ministry, and helping plan their academic and spiritual formation to enter seminary.

The curriculum of HYLA includes developing a basic understanding of justice, advocacy and community organizing. Read more about the Academy.

Ethnic Local Church Grants strengthen congregations through education, advocacy or leadership development for social-justice engagement. Grants are awarded twice each year. The spring cycle awarded $110,000 to four programs.

The $110,000 in Ethnic Local Church grants was split among programs in three U.S. jurisdictions and the Ethnic/Minority Young Adult Summer Internships. In addition to the grant to Perkins, which is situated in North Texas (South Central Jurisdiction), programs in West Ohio (North Central Jurisdiction) and Tennessee (Southeastern) received grants for immigration advocacy, and work in Nashville’s “Golden Triangle,” a Thai, Burmese and Laotian refugee community, respectively.

Read the full press release: .