Welcome to the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles

The Bishop W. Bertrand Stevens Foundation

 

The Bishop W. Bertrand Stevens Foundation is named in honor of the second Bishop of Los Angeles. Each year, the Foundation awards grants that help clergy and other staff to become better ministers to youth and to fund programs that strengthen the connection between youth and the church. 

 

The Board of Trustees has recently decided to include endeavors which will strengthen ministries to and by young adults. Grants for 2008 were determined in May, and will be listed here as soon as the information becomes available.
   

Bishop Stevens Youth Ministry Awards fund endeavors that enable clergy or other staff to become better ministers to youth and those that strengthen the connection between youth and the church. Illustrative projects that the Foundation might support are: a trip by the youth of a parish to do community service outside the Diocese; a summer practicum by a seminarian who wishes to specialize in youth ministry; the start-up of a program benefiting inner-city youth; or youth ministry training for clergy or other staff. Up to $20,000 is awarded each year, usually split among several recipients.

 

Bishop Garver Clergy Awards, given in honor of the late Bishop Suffragan Oliver B. Garver, are for the professional enhancement of clergy who have been ordained ten years or less and who are canonically resident in this diocese. 

The Foundation sets no rigid constraints on the kinds of projects it will fund, but the purpose must be to enhance the recipient's ability to serve the diocese or its parishioners. Approximately $10,000 is awarded each year, usually split among several recipients.

 

Nominations for the awards should be made by rectors, senior or bishop's wardens, or cathedral center staff.

Nominations for Bishop Stevens Youth Ministry Awards should be sent to The Rev. Jefferson Stephens, 3901 Karen Lynn Drive, Glendale, CA 91206 or e-mailed to revjeff1@earthlink.net. For further information, call Stephens at 818.790.9168.

 

Nominations for the Bishop Garver Clergy Awards should be sent to John Tucker, 800 Wilshire Blvd. 12th Floor, Los Angeles 90017 or e-mailed to johntuckerjr@msn.com.  Please direct any questions to John Tucker at 213.629.0060.

 

Deadline for nominations is generally April 15 each year. Awards are determined by mid-May.

 

2007 Bishop Stevens Foundation Grants

  • Dan Morrow, youth ministry worker and candidate for Holy Orders, St. John’s Church, La Verne, to help fund his attendance at the Summer Madness Youth Event in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which is the largest youth event in the Anglican Communion attended by over 4,000 people every year.
  • Vincent Shamo, vicar, Parish of St. Mary in Palms, to help fund training of the Youth and Children’s Ministry staff at the Parish of St. Mary, in particular to enable them reach out to inner city youth in the local community.
  • Reese Riley, rector, Saint Paul’s Church, Tustin, to fund training for two people in “Godly Play” and cover the cost of Godly Play materials, with the goal of increasing participation at Saint Paul’s by families with children.
  • Debbie Royals, Missioner for Native American Ministry Development, Diocese of Los Angeles, to help fund the costs of youth traveling to the Navajoland Area Mission at Ft. Defiance, Arizona, and to Red Shirt, South Dakota.  Goals of the trips included helping youth and youth leadership to integrate Native and Christian values and transforming connections between the Episcopal Church and young people.

 

2006 Bishop Stevens Foundation Grants

  • The Kids Campus Youth Center in El Monte, sponsored by Our Saviour Center. To fund the Kids Campus Youth Program, which provides disadvantaged inner-city children with tutoring, recreation, computer instruction, art, nature and cultural excursions.
  • Service '06, a youth-oriented service and community-building project between the Diocese of Los Angeles and companion Dioceses of Belize and El Salvador, sponsored by the World Mission Group and the Parish of St. Matthew.
  • The Guitar Works Program of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, which provides guitar lessons for middle and high school students in its largely Latino neighborhood.


2006 Bishop Garver Grants

  • The Rev. Joyce Stickney, rector of St. Aidan's Church, Malibu, to cover her second year of tuition at Fuller Seminary, where she is pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree.
  • The Rev. Julie D. Bryant, associate rector at the Parish of Saint Matthew, Pacific Palisades, to cover her second year's tuition at Claremont School of Theology.
  • The Rev. Nicole S. Janelle, assistant rector at St. Mary's, Los Angeles, to cover costs of tutoring in Spanish and a two-week pastoral immersion experience in Mexico.
  • The Rev. Norm Freeman, now priest-in-charge of St. George's Church, Laguna Hills, to cover the costs of participation in an Intensive Pastoral Spanish Language Program in San Antonio, Texas.
  • The Rev. Eva Cavaleri to cover the costs of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land sponsored by Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.
  • The Rev. Michael Cooper, Director of Religious Education, Formation and Youth for the Diocese of Los Angeles, to enable him to attend a course, "Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ," at the Anglican School in Rome.
  • Recipients of the 2005 Garver Awards were:
  • The Rev. David H. Jackson, Priest-in-Charge of St. John’s Church, La Verne, to defray costs incurred in the completion of his doctorate in Hebrew Bible at Claremont School of Theology. 
  • The Rev. Julie D. Bryant, Associate Rector for Family Ministries at The Parish of Saint Matthew, Pacific Palisades, for first year’s tuition at Claremont School of Theology, where she pursued a Doctor of Ministry degree in Practical Theology, focusing on Narrative and Visual Arts within the Parish Context.
  • The Rev. Joyce Stickney, Associate Rector of St. Augustine by the Sea, Santa Monica, for a year of tuition at Fuller Seminary, where she pursued a Doctor of Ministry degree, participating in the Christian Spirituality Cohort.
  • The Rev. Nicole S. Janelle, Assistant Rector at St. Mary’s, Mariposa (Los Angeles), to cover intensive tutoring in Spanish language, to enhance her communications skills and further the parish’s outreach to its surrounding Latino community.
  • The Rev. Anna B. Olson, Rector, Trinity Parish, Los Angeles, to cover the expenses of a pastoral immersion experience in the Episcopal-Anglican Diocese of El Salvador.