Source: The National Herald
NEW YORK – FAITH: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism (FAITH) is pleased to announce the launch of a new leadership training program, the “Executive Education Program in Strategic Leadership and Transformative Action” (SLTA), for members of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese at the prestigious Fletcher School of Tufts University. SLTA is an intensive executive leadership training program designed to give clergy and laity a foundational set of technical, intellectual, and spiritual tools and ideas for strategic management and leadership that can produce transformative action in the Church and community. The pilot program will launch in the Metropolis of Chicago and is scheduled for January 2020.
Funded by FAITH, the program is the first of its kind for the Greek Orthodox community of America. The curriculum was developed by Professor Elizabeth Prodromou and will include lectures by leading experts in related disciplines of faith-based and non-profit organizations covering topics such as strategic planning and management, financial planning for non-profits, leadership, communication strategies, and religious literacy. Dr. Prodromou and the Fletcher School have hosted similar type leadership training programs for other community and church/faith-based institutions.
Participants will be selected from clergy and laity, for their desire and potential to learn and incorporate their new knowledge to further develop a strong, vital, and active Church built upon institutional sustainability and adaptability. Participants are expected to return to their parishes and communities where they will implement the organizing principles of this program; awareness, action and impact to build stronger communities within their Parish, Metropolises and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.
“The Metropolis truly is grateful to FAITH to be selected as the pilot program group for the opportunity to learn from the faculty in a world-class university setting like Tufts’ Fletcher School,” said His Eminence Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago. “It presents a unique setting for active engagement in workshops focused on teaching the best practices of non-profit management, collaboration, and accountability that will help empower our Metropolis and community. Leadership must be the unbroken thread through everything we do as a Church and community from both clergy and laity perspective.”
Since 2004, FAITH has supported and promoted excellence and leadership among young people within the Greek and Hellenic community through sponsoring college scholarship programs, St. John Chrysostom Awards, financial aid travel grants to Ionian Village, and various educational resources for the Greek language and culture programs at parishes. More information and applications for this program will be posted at www.thefaithendowment.org later this summer.
