Description

The first grant I have to recommend in this set would go to Vanderbilt University Divinity School, home to the Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative. The Collaborative was established and launched with the support of a $1,000,000 grant from the Theology Program, approved in November 2016. A subsequent Theology Program grant of $500,000, approved in November 2019, is currently supporting the expansion of its work.
Vanderbilt Divinity School has a distinctive history in support of racial inclusion and racial justice. In 1960, James Lawson, Jr., an African American student at the Divinity School, was expelled from the school because of his leadership role in Nashville’s sit-in movement. Lawson’s expulsion and its aftermath made a lasting impact on the divinity school. The faculty and student body eventually produced a statement of commitments dedicating the school to the education of “those who will be forceful representatives of the faith and effective agents in working for a more just and humane society, for the development of new and better modes of ministry, and for leadership in church and society that will help to alleviate the ills besetting individuals and groups.”
Today, Vanderbilt Divinity Schools is recognized as a university-based divinity school that is both distinctly southern and progressive, attracting students and faculty compelled by the work of social and racial justice.  Since 2013, the school has been led by Dean Emilie M. Townes. Dean Townes was previously the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology and associate dean of academic affairs at Yale Divinity School, and she was the first African American woman elected president of the American Academy of Religion, which she led in 2008.
Dean Townes leads the Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative, with the support and partnership of Rev. Dr. Teresa L. Smallwood. Together, and in consultation with colleagues at Vanderbilt, they have proposed the attached plan for the use of emergency grant funds. This plan would build on the Collaborative’s networks in Nashville and beyond to support a range of community partners committed to social and racial justice, and in direct response to the current situation.
I fully support this plan, which accords with the approach to Theology Program emergency grantmaking we have previously discussed and agreed upon, and I am pleased to recommend this emergency grant to you. I would be happy to do my best to respond to any questions or concerns you might have, and I know that Dean Townes and Dr. Smallwood are also standing by to respond to any queries.