The Philadelphia Regional Fund for Sacred Places is granting five awards totaling $400,000 to local congregations, according to a news release from Partners for Sacred Places, which administers the regional fund.

Congregations must dedicate grant funds to the renovation of their buildings, the release said. The repairs include stabilizing falling spires, repairing crumbling walls, leaking roofs, and sagging windows, as well as upgrading life safety systems. Congregational leaders are announcing the awards in separate events within their churches.

The five Regional Fund grantees are:

• Arch Street United Methodist Church, Center City Philadelphia;
• Church of the Advocate, North Philadelphia;
• First United Methodist Church of Germantown, Northwest Philadelphia;
• First Unitarian Church, Center City Philadelphia; and
• St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Ardmore.

Each congregation must match its grant by leveraging member and/or community support, the release said.

"The Church of the Advocate's mission to the community cannot be advanced without stewardship of its architecturally and socially significant buildings," said the Episcopal congregation's development director Barbara Stechert. "Partners for Sacred Places has offered us unswerving support, guidance and friendship in the years since the restoration and building efforts have begun."

Architect Charles Burns built Church of the Advocate's National Historic Landmark building from 1890-1897, which was erected as a memorial to the civil leader George W. South. The recent addition of the Paul and Christine Washington Family and Community Center celebrates the continued history of social action of the congregation, the release said. The congregation supports cultural and social programs, including Art Sanctuary, a program connecting the community to the arts through hip-hop, literature, dance, and the visual arts. The church was the site of the "irregular" priestly ordinations of 11 women in the Episcopal Church in 1974. The grant builds on a previous Save America's Treasures grant, and supports critical exterior masonry repairs.

Architect Frank Furness designed St. Mary's in Ardmore, which was built in 1887 as a mission parish. The congregation has a history of social ministry, from its 1895 laundry training and distribution of cloth for low-income women, to the more than 63 active ministries today, according to the release. Programs include the homeless residential transition program with the Interfaith Hospitality Network, as well as a food pantry, children's and seniors' programming, and music programs. The grant supports a comprehensive roof repair project.

"Partners is proud to extend the reach and impact of the Fund by helping these churches; each has enormous cultural and community value," Partners for Sacred Places Executive Director A. Robert Jaeger said in the release.

To apply to the Regional Fund, congregations must have a building of historical significance, strong and committed leadership, and a comprehensive plan to address their repair needs. Additionally, they must play a major role in neighborhood stabilization. Combined, the five congregations provide space and other resources valued at about $939,500 annually to support the social services in their buildings, the release said.

The Philadelphia Regional Fund was launched in May 2006, and is the largest fund of its type in the United States for funding and technical training for historic, community-serving sacred places, the release said.

The William Penn Foundation and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission are among the individuals, foundations, and governmental agencies providing support for the Regional Fund.

Partners for Sacred Places is the only national, non-sectarian, non-profit organization devoted to helping congregations and their communities sustain and actively use older and historic sacred places. Partners provides assistance to the people who care for sacred places while promoting a new understanding of how these places sustain communities, according to the release. Founded in 1989, Partners is headquartered in Philadelphia. More information is available here.