Grants and Guidance

In 2001, the Bonner Foundation awarded eleven grants to college/congregation partnerships. Each partnership designed and pursued its own local expression of Micah 6 under the leadership of Bonner Scholars and other students, along with advising staff, faculty, chaplains and pastors. In 2002, the Bonner Foundation awarded nine additional Micah 6 grants.

Through these awards, the Bonner Foundation seeks to help its supported colleges and their students to develop local expressions of Micah 6. In particular, each Micah 6 Bonner Partnership:

• Nurtures a partnership between a Bonner-supported college and a local congregation of faith, engaging a cohort of students and the congregation in shared community ministry;
• Identifies issues of justice and injustice in the shared community;
• Designs and pursues a project of direct service and social justice;
• Engages students in a program of spiritual reflection, in the context of community service and social justice.

Grant Applications:

Micah 6 grants (generally in the amount of $5,000/year) are intended for colleges that have an established Bonner Scholars or Bonner Leaders Program. Proposals are received each year by May 24, and awards for the upcoming academic year are announced in June.

Guidelines for Micah 6 applications may be downloaded from this website. Questions regarding Micah 6 grant applications may be directed by e-mail to Billy Newton: newton@rhodes.edu.

Workshops, Support and Guidance:

Micah 6 Orientation is held each June during the Bonner Summer Leadership Institute. An additional two-day Micah 6 Workshop is held each fall for leaders and project coordinators to focus on servant leadership and the relationship of faith and service.

• In 2001, the fall workshop was held in Washington, D.C. with leadership from Gordon and Mary Cosby, the Servant Leadership School, and Jubilee Ministries in the Adams Morgan neighborhood.
  
• In October 2002, twenty-one coordinators met at Columbia Theological Seminary with CTS faculty Walter Brueggemann, Lee Carroll, and Jim Watkins to focus on critical issues raised in the text of Micah 6, in the process of action-reflection, and in the pursuit of justice and mercy.
  
• At the 2002 workshop, Walter Brueggemann challenged the group with Micah’s warnings of corrupt and unjust social systems, which break covenant with God, in contrast to Micah’s “subversive” and prophetic call to restore covenant through socio/economic justice, radical love, and compassionate community. In a personal note, Brueggemann encouraged the group to move ahead into the difficult territory of Micah 6, commenting that “the work in which you and your cohorts are engaged is an important one, for to nurture the younger generation into the realities of our society is an urgent need and an uphill battle.”