LSTC Receives Grant to Advance Reparations Discernment and Community Engagement
The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago is pleased to announce that the institution has received a $15,000 Resource Grant from the In Trust Center for Theological Schools to support the next phase of the seminary’s ongoing reparations work. The grant will be matched by $10,000 in institutional funding from the LSTC President’s Office and $5,000 from the Albert “Pete” Pero, Jr. and Cheryl Stewart Pero Center for Intersectionality Studies, creating a $30,000 initiative focused on learning, relationship-building, and community-informed discernment.
“We are grateful to In Trust Center for Theological Schools for its generous support of LSTC’s commitment to reparations in Chicago’s Hyde Park and Woodlawn neighborhoods,” said LSTC President Shauna Hannan of the Resource Grant. “This $30,000 is a start to strengthen our collective investment in this important work.”
The project to be funded by the Resource Grant builds on a commitment first made by LSTC’s Board of Directors in 2023, when it established a Reparations Task Force to explore the seminary’s responsibility to address historical injustices connected to its presence in Chicago’s Hyde Park and Woodlawn communities. As LSTC continues to reimagine its future following the sale of its former campus properties, the institution has committed to exploring meaningful and sustainable approaches to reparative justice.
Rather than beginning with predetermined solutions, the grant-funded initiative is designed as a period of listening, learning, and community engagement. Over the coming year, LSTC will invite scholars and practitioners working in reparations and racial justice, facilitate conversations among students, faculty, staff, and board members, and build relationships with organizations and community leaders across Chicago’s South Side. “Reparations is not a metaphor,” said LSTC’s Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs Robert Smith. “It demands actively listening to people’s needs and real connection with people’s lives. LSTC is committed to the hard work of careful listening so we can contribute to important changes being led by our surrounding communities.”
The grant will also support the development of new offerings focused on reparations in community contexts, as well as publicly accessible resources that can assist churches, ministries, and other institutions seeking to engage in reparative work. “One way we are making reparations real is to bring the topic into the classroom,” said Smith. “Through our ‘Public Church’ curriculum, we have effective ways of teaching how the Gospel is present in all contexts. This grant will allow us to more effectively partner with community agencies and leaders to enhance our ability to listen carefully to what people actually need.”
The award follows a May 2026 conversation between LSTC’s Board of Directors and Dr. David Stovall, professor of Black Studies and Criminology, Law & Justice at the University of Illinois Chicago. During that discussion, Stovall challenged board members to consider how institutions can move beyond symbolic gestures toward practices grounded in listening, accountability, and genuine partnership with communities affected by historical injustice. The conversation underscored the importance of understanding local needs before determining how resources should be deployed.
Throughout the project, LSTC leaders will engage local organizations, community partners, and members of the seminary community in a shared process of discernment. The goal is to develop recommendations for future reparations investments that are informed by community wisdom, rooted in authentic relationships, and aligned with the seminary’s commitments to justice, public church engagement, and faithful service.
In addition to shaping LSTC’s own work, the initiative is intended to serve as a model for theological schools, congregations, and church-related organizations seeking to undertake reparative action in their own contexts.
The Lutheran School of Theology (LSTC) is dedicated to bearing witness to the good news of Jesus Christ. Based in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, it is the leading urban Lutheran seminary training students for purposeful vocations in the global community. Aligned with its Lutheran heritage and built on a foundation of intellectual rigor, LSTC’s innovative, nationally recognized curriculum gives students skills for visionary Christian leadership in the public sphere.