ECF Announces 2016 Fellows
May 24, 2016, New York, NY -- The Episcopal Church Foundation has named its 2016 Fellows who bring an exciting vision and passion for the future of the Episcopal Church.
The Fellowship Partners Program is ECF’s longest running program and supports emerging scholars and ministry leaders so they can pursue studies and ministries they might not otherwise be able to, and share their knowledge and learning with the wider Church.ECF is proud to partner with our 2016 Fellows and to walk with them as they explore how to be the Episcopal Church of the future.
ECF President Donald Romanik extended his congratulations to the 2016 Fellows saying, “It gives me hope that these young scholars and ministry leaders are playing a significant part in shaping the future of our Church. We at ECF look forward to the gifts the 2016 Fellows bring through their work and ministry, pioneering new ways to revitalize our communities in practical and spiritually-grounded ways.”
"The 2016 Fellowships show an Episcopal Church that is engaged with the world”, said Managing Program Director for Leadership Resources and Communications, Miguel Escobar. “The four recipients - three lay and one clergy - are advancing the Church's response to unjust laws, digital literacy and online learning, systemic approaches to food and housing justice, and improving primary school education in rural Haiti. We look forward to partnering closely with these outstanding scholars and ministry leaders over the next three years."
The 2016 Fellows are:
Elisabeth Kincaid: Elisabeth is a Ph.D. candidate in Moral Theology/Christian Ethics at the University of Notre Dame. Her dissertation focuses on reclaiming the theological jurisprudence of the sixteenth-century Spanish theologian and legal scholar, Francisco Suárez, particularly his development of alternative means of resistance to unjust laws. Elisabeth’s goal is to help Christians develop creative and constructive ways to work to advance justice in liberal democracies, while also upholding the rule of law. Elisabeth received her B.A. from Rice University, her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, and her M.T.S. from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. She has also practiced law at a national law firm, worked at a private equity fund-of-funds, and served as a graduate campus minister to law and business students. She is married to Thomas, an Episcopal priest, and they have one daughter. She is a frequent contributor to Covenant, the weblog of The Living Church magazine.
Kyle Oliver: Kyle's ministry supports digital literacy in faith communities. He trained as an engineer, tutor, and editor at the University of Wisconsin before attending Virginia Theological Seminary. For the past four years, he has served as digital missioner in the Center for the Ministry of Teaching at VTS and assisting priest at St. Paul's Parish in Washington and St. Michael's Church in Manhattan. Kyle writes and teaches widely and has been a developer of the e-Formation Learning Community. He has contributed chapters on young adult development to The Seasons of Adult Faith Formation and on digital media ministry to the forthcoming SPCK Handbook of the Study of Ministry. As an ECF fellow, Kyle will be studying for an Ed.D. in the Communications, Media, and Learning Technologies Design Program at Teacher's College, Columbia University and working in the Media and Social Change Lab. His continuing mission is to identify and share wise practices for hybrid teaching and learning in faith settings and culturally competent Christian engagement in the new public square.
Derek Minno-Bloom: Derek is working as Trinity Church Asbury Park’s Food Justice organizer. Over the last ten years he has worked on food and housing justice issues with low-income people and people experiencing houslessness, and through his Fellowship will continue to run Trinity’s food pantry and soup kitchen that serves over 30,000 meals a year. Believing that our baptismal covenant calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves, Derek is compelled to help meet the immediate needs of hunger in Asbury Park and to organize at the community level to prevent hunger and injustice in the future. Derek self identifies as a white settler cisgendered male who lives on Sand Hill Nation Lenni Lenape territory known today as Asbury Park, New Jersey, and is part of a solidarity collective called Black Mesa Indigenous Support that works against settler and resource colonialism in joint struggle with the Dineh (Navajo) people who are resisting a forced relocation in northeastern Arizona.
Nedgine Paul: Nedgine is the co-founder & CEO of Anseye Pou Ayiti. A lifelong educator, she returned to her native Haiti to launch and lead Anseye Pou Ayiti - a fellowship program which recruits and trains a new generation of local teacher leaders. She earned her B.A. in History from Yale College and a master's in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She was named a top global social innovator by Echoing Green and was selected for the Forbes list of "30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs." In partnership with existing primary schools in rural and underserved communities (many of them run by local churches), the desired outcome is to dramatically raise education outcomes, rooted in a deep appreciation for Haitian culture, customs, and community. Anseye Pou Ayiti (APA) will also accelerate our teacher leaders’ impact by fostering a network of fellowship alumni who play diverse roles across Haitian society, but as lifelong advocates of education equity.
The application process for the 2017 ECF Fellowship will open in November, 2016. Complete information about the ECF Fellowship Partners Program can be found on ECF's website at www.EpiscopalFoundation.org or by calling 800-697-2858.