Morgan’s Center for Religion and Cities Advances National Dialogue on Religion and Media with New Henry Luce Foundation Grant Award

New Round of Funding Supports New Strategies Around Religion, Democracy, and Justice Research at a National Level

BALTIMORE — Through the generous and sustained support of the Henry Luce Foundation, Morgan State University’s Center for Religion and Cities (CRC) has received a new round of grant funding to expand its community outreach programs in Baltimore City. The Foundation has awarded the CRC $100,000 for its Religion and Media Collaborative: Present Realities, Possible Futures, a strategic field-building initiative designed to strengthen how stories of religious diversity circulate in U.S. public life. This is the sixth grant the CRC has received from the Henry Luce Foundation, bringing the foundation’s total support to $2 million to date.

The Collaborative will convene 12 leading practitioners and thinkers working at the intersection of religion, media, and democracy for a structured process of learning, experimentation, and strategy development. Through four facilitated virtual convenings and a four-day in-person retreat in San Juan, Puerto Rico, participants will assess the current religion-and-media landscape and collectively envision innovative, scalable approaches to storytelling across platforms such as journalism, podcasts, public art, film, and digital media. By equipping leaders with shared frameworks and tools, this project aims to foster more curious, civil, and compassionate public conversations about religious difference while reinforcing the Luce Foundation’s commitment to democracy, pluralism, and justice.

Housed within the James H. Gilliam, Jr. College of Liberal Arts’ Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, the CRC’s mission is to bring together community partners, scholars, and students to collaboratively study unjust urban structures and to support and expand innovative solutions that lead to more equitable futures.

Under the leadership of Harold D. Morales, Ph.D., interim chairperson and professor in the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies, the CRC inspires, shapes, and supports student research and fieldwork across Baltimore by collaborating with diverse religious communities, scholars, activists, community organizations, and policymakers. It also functions as a hub for critical research, uniting multiple disciplines and institutions, non-academic partners, undergraduate students, and prospective graduate students.

“During these times of increased fragmentation and divisive points of view, we need to find ways to listen to each other and work together to solve pressing issues around climate change, quality of life, and coercive practices,” said Dr. Morales. “The Center for Religion and Cities is proud to serve as a convener for diverse communities to listen to each other and strategize collaborative ways forward. I'm proud to be a part of this collective and am excited to continue growing our relationship with the Henry Luce Foundation and its partners.”

This grant-funded project will run from February to May 2026. The Collaborative will culminate in the development of a practical strategy to systematize and disseminate novel media approaches. The Collaborative aims to formulate a concrete, field-oriented strategy that organizes the most promising ideas generated during the retreat. This strategy will outline pathways for implementation, collaboration, and dissemination, emphasizing scalability and adaptability across diverse organizational contexts.

Morgan established the Center for Religion and Cities (CRC) in 2018 with a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, focusing on Baltimore, its religious communities, and the city’s most pressing social justice issues. The Center also receives annual support from Morgan’s endowment fund, strengthened by MacKenzie Scott’s first donation to the University in December 2020.

Thanks to the continued investment of the Henry Luce Foundation over the past several years, the CRC has expanded its critical community-based work and further strengthened its ties to Baltimore’s diverse communities. In June 2020, a few months after the start of the pandemic, the CRC received a $150,000 grant from the Foundation to address COVID-19-related needs through Relief and Restoration Work . This initiative provided direct aid while also documenting how marginalized communities were impacted by the pandemic and how they responded to the crisis. In 2021, the CRC was awarded an additional $250,000 to support the Good Life Project— a community-based effort to collectively imagine, document, reflect on, and work toward healthier post-pandemic futures. In 2022, the Foundation awarded the CRC a $1 million grant to support Lifeways of Hope, an initiative centered on deep listening and collaborative practices to advance quality of life in cities, especially for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities who are too often excluded from planning processes by cultural and research institutions. The Henry Luce Foundation also supported the Weaving Affinities Planning Project with a $30,000 grant.

About Henry Luce Foundation 

The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to deepen knowledge and understanding in pursuit of a more democratic and just world. Established in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time, Inc., the Luce Foundation advances its mission by nurturing knowledge communities and institutions, fostering dialogue across divides, enriching public discourse, amplifying diverse voices, and investing in leadership development.

About Morgan

Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering more than 150 academic programs leading to baccalaureate, master’s or doctoral degrees, or certificates. As Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.

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Larry Jones or Cheryl Stewart for Morgan State University PR
443-885-3022