Locally Grown Leaders: 5-Year Diocesan Microgrant Program from the Iona Collaborative
Grantee: Seminary of the Southwest
Location: Austin, TX
Website: https://iona.ssw.edu/locallygrownleaders/
Project Contact: Nandra Perry, Halley Ortiz
Email: nandra.perry@ssw.edu; halley.ortiz@iona.ssw.edu
Who we serve
Locally Grown Leaders serves rural and small-town congregations led by locally formed leaders — bi-vocational clergy, deacons, and lay leaders who have discerned a call to ministry and completed a certificate program through a local Episcopal school of formation within their diocese.
At the Iona Collaborative, bi-vocational refers to clergy, deacons, and lay leaders who are locally trained, serve part-time or in non-stipendiary roles, and/or provide leadership across multiple congregations or ministries.
How we support rural congregations and ministry leaders
Through Locally Grown Leaders, 19 grantees from 21 Episcopal dioceses will receive grants of up to $25,000 per year for the next five years, along with site visits and personalized support from the Locally Grown Leaders staff team. Areas of focus include curriculum design, diocesan school planning and evaluation, and student assessment protocols — all aimed at fostering local formation, student success, and the vitality of small congregations.
Locally Grown Leaders allows diocesan schools of ministry in the Iona Collaborative network to customize their programs for maximal missional impact. While each grantee school has a unique project appropriate to their context, all Locally Grown dioceses will be connected through a shared commitment to: 1) data-driven diocesan school program planning and evaluation and 2) comprehensive student assessment keyed to common skills matrices that measure preparedness for ministry.
During the grant period, each micro-grantee will undergo a 360-degree alignment process that brings together diocesan and seminary stakeholders to map local challenges and opportunities, discern a diocesan-specific vision, develop measurable program and student outcomes, and assess longitudinal program impact on student learning and congregational health.
Rural and small-town churches anchor the health of their communities in critical ways. Diocesan schools equip lay and clergy leaders to serve in these challenging settings. Locally Grown Leaders offers a new, more strategic way of resourcing these programs.
Partners
- The FaithX Project
- Optimize Professional Learning, L.L.C.
- Episcopal Preaching Foundation
- Center for Lay Chaplaincy of the Diocese of Los Angeles
Faith tradition
The Episcopal Church
Geographical focus
This project works within the Iona diocesan network.
Supporting over 30 dioceses across the Episcopal Church, the Iona Collaborative is a learning community of educators working together to equip local leaders and strengthen small congregations.