January brings a new fiscal year and with it some programmatic changes for CFLC and Prism. Prism is a long-standing ministry of the LA Diocese, funded through the Diocesan budget and private donations. In contrast, CFLC was created from and funded by a three-year grant from Trinity Wall Street Philanthropies. The Trinity funding concludes at the end of next month and beginning in March, CFLC and Prism will be funded exclusively through the LA Diocesan budget along with private donations.
But changes in funding streams requires some significant reductions in paid staffing. The CFLC director position will be reduced to less than half-time, which means the initiatives with the LA County Library and Housing Works will end. For the foreseeable future, CFLC’s main focus will be to train facilitators–using the curriculum we have developed–in order to train and then deploy chaplains where they are needed. Sharon Crandall, the Director of Prism, will continue to gift her time and energies to the Diocese, so her position will not be affected. And this is a critical point: the vast majority of the LA Diocese jail ministry relies directly on volunteer efforts, including Sharon Crandall’s (more than) full time work. Gabe will continue in his role as program coordinator for CFLC and Prism, making sure programs run, people are connected, and recruiting volunteers.
All of this means that your support of our chaplaincy ministries is more important than ever. Nearly half of our ministry staff-hours are performed by volunteers and fewer financial resources mean your financial support helps to provide tangible resources to people living with the realities of incarceration. Consider signing up for an information session to see how you can help.
Join us for our next information session: