Opportunities for you, your church, or your ministry to apply for grants. The deadlines are approaching, so act now!
COVID Relief (Application Deadline 10/15/22)
The NC Conference COVID-19 Response Fund can assist churches and ministries impacted by this unprecedented crisis. Apply Today→
CORR Action Fund (Application Deadline 11/15/22)
The General Commission on Religion and Race seeks to fund innovative and bold initiatives to support vital conversations about race, cultural diversity, xenophobia, and systemic equity. Apply Today→
Peace with Justice Grants (Deadline 1/8/23)
Is your church ready to step beyond charity and into solidarity and justice ministries? Peace with Justice grants are available to UMC churches and affiliated nonprofits. Apply Today→
View our Grants page to see other upcoming offerings.
COVID-19
COVID-19 Update for October 2022
As we enter the Fall season, our Health Ministries Team is back with an update and helpful information from Dr. Wes Wallace. Thanks to Rev. Lindsay Collins, Health Team chair, for the video recapping the latest information.
COVID-19 Update for September 27, 2022
Our Health Ministries Team is back with another update and helpful information from Dr. Wes Wallace. Thanks to Rev. Lindsay Collins, Health Team chair, for the video recapping the latest information.
Additional Resources:
Slide Presentation from Dr. Wes Wallace (PDF)
COVID Grant Program Ending in October
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NC Conference’s Council on Finance and Administration made relief money available to the Cabinet to help local churches with operational expenses and pastoral compensation. Those funds were supplemental grants to the Cabinet from the Conference’s reserve funds. The Insurance Committee and the Board of Pension also provided funding for the Cabinet to help churches defray the costs of those benefits provided to their pastors.
To date, $2,883,453.13 has been granted to local churches to use in their local ministries and support their pastors. Truly this ministry has been a blessing and shows the connection at work and the wonderful way The United Methodist Church comes together in times of crisis.
The need for these relief monies has greatly decreased as the pandemic has waned. The relief program will end on October 15, 2022. Applications will be received through that date as they have been throughout the pandemic.
Praise God for the blessings we have known even during this hard time and praise God for the blessing of being able to help our fellow believers.
COVID Update – July 19, 2022
This COVID update comes to us from Dr. Wes Wallace. We appreciate Dr. Wallace’s continued collaboration with Conference leadership as we continue to navigate the COVID landscape.
We are having more new cases of COVID per day than we have ever had. The currently dominant COVID variant, BA.5, is the most transmissible disease ever. It’s time to fortify your approach to preventing serious disease.
Recall that R0 (or “R-naught”) represents the number of additional persons that one infected person will, in turn, infect.
- R0 for the 1918 pandemic flu was about 2.0
- R0 for the original or “Wuhan” COVID-19 was 3.3
- R0 for the first of the Omicron version (BA.1) is 9.5
- R0 for BA.5, the current dominant version of Omicron is about 18.6. This represents an unprecedented level of transmission.
It is difficult to know exactly how many new daily cases we are seeing in Orange County. Almost everyone is doing unreported rapid home tests. However, most epidemiologists believe the actual number of new daily cases is 5 to 10 times the reported number of cases. Currently, we are at 34 reported cases per 100,000 persons (up about 12% over the last two weeks).
That means the actual number of new cases is probably around 300 per 100,000 persons per day—a number that is equal to the highest rate of infection we have seen in the pandemic.
BA.5 does appear to be less life-threatening than previous variants. However, the very large number of cases will lead to rising death numbers, primarily among seniors—even seniors who are fully boosted. Nationally and statewide, deaths are trending upward. Nationwide, there are more daily deaths from COVID than from vehicle crashes. Our time for severe illness and grief is likely coming.
It appears there is a lower percentage of folks developing long COVID with BA.5, but there is little good data.
So there you have it – a fuzzy picture of where we are. Since quality mask wearing is not onerous and the potential for preventable bad outcomes is profound, please exhort your congregants to wear a mask.
Ventilate, vaccinate, boost and test. Take care, and wear a mask in large indoor gatherings.
Dr. Wes Wallace
For additional reading and information:
- Read this post from epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina. It is a great summary of where we are and what to do.
- Download this PowerPoint presentation (PDF) from Dr. Wes Wallace
Breakout Session – Impact of COVID on the Gender Pay Gap
On average, women make 79 cents for every dollar a man makes. This number is less for women of color, disabled women, and mothers. In The UMC, women pastors made 8.2% less than male clergy in 2020. They are more often appointed to junior roles and smaller churches. The Southeastern Jurisdiction has the lowest number of female clergy in the U.S.
Ashley Harzog, Director of the Office of Women and Gender and Associate Director of Intercultural Affairs at East Carolina University, led this breakout session.
In addition to the wage gap, women also experience a funding gap and a mortgage gap. Women and minorities received 1% of venture capital funds in 2017 despite the fact that businesses with a woman co-founder outperform other business investments by 63%. Even though single women have higher credit scores and are less likely to default on their mortgages than single men, they pay on average $15,000 more for a mortgage.
COVID has highlighted additional gender pay gaps. Every year, intimate partner violence victims lose eight million days of paid work. In the U.S., sexual violence results in more than $122,000 in costs per survivor. COVID has caused intimate partner violence to rise and decreased access to care.
COVID has also highlighted ways that changes in how we work can benefit women, families, and employers. With a more flexible work week, productivity soared during COVID. We discovered that a 32-hour work week is just as productive as a 40-hour work week. The 40-hour work week was designed 100 years ago for single-earner households. Women and men have equally participated in the workforce since the 1970s, but mothers are still three times more likely to be responsible for household labor in dual-earner households. The U.S. is one of only seven countries worldwide that does not mandate paid parental leave.
Harzog concluded the session with suggestions for action. She pointed out that we are often told to make personal changes, such as forgoing a latte, but we cannot budget our way out of systemic injustice. Here’s what we can do:
- Talk about and research salary. The good news is that we are doing this in the UMC. Data is available. Just remember that not talking about salary only benefits the employer.
- Universal design of family and parental leave. Advocate for leave for both parents to avoid bias in hiring.
- Childcare reform. Families need to have access to affordable childcare.
- Reauthorize VAWA. The Violence Against Women Act remains stalled in Congress. Show your support for its passing.
- Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence Leave. Instituting 2-3 days of paid leave would reduce the financial vulnerability of victims.
- Use your influence. Your influence is a magnifier. Use it to empower others financially and interpersonally. Where you spend your money matters.
- Take a nap and sleep. We’re not going to hustle our way out of these systemic discrepancies, but strategic moves can make a difference.
———————-Laura Dallas