Daughters of Wisdom, USA Province

Teresa Stanley and Sr. Margaret McCabe, DW, talk about the early days of the Sowers of Justice, their collaboration with Virginia Organizing, and how the Interspiritual Empowerment Project will utilize Mission Grant funds.

The Interspiritual Empowerment Project (IEP) was established in 2017 after twenty years of ongoing social justice work in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia as a nonprofit joint plan of work project of Virginia Organizing. The IEP engages and invites the community to create and implement collaborative social justice ministry opportunities in a more intentional way with the voices of those families most affected by issues of poverty, injustice, and oppression leading the way for change. IEP will put Mission Grant money to work on seven family initiatives vital in addressing social and environmental justice issues impacting women and children in the Hampton Roads, Virginia region. One initiative, "Open Table," prepares and pairs faith community participants to walk in relationship and solidarity through a year-long committed journey with families that have asked for the gift of a natural support system. These "Table" relationships offer participants resources that might help them realize their dreams for each family member to reach their fullest human potential. In the long-term, IEP aims to implement an ongoing faith support team to establish sustainability for this best-practiced family empowerment model in the Hampton Roads region. A second IEP initiative is the Legislative Collaborative Table, a twenty-six local nonpartisan advocacy group that works to pass Virginia's social and environmental justice legislation. A top priority issue on their agenda this year is to get legislation passed that will provide home buying reparation assistance funds to address the generational issue of excluding Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) from building wealth through housing investment opportunities. Teresa Stanley, Coordinator of the Interspiritual Empowerment Project, will be organizing these efforts. This grant was endorsed by Sr. Margaret McCabe, DW, who has been a member of Tidewater Sowers of Justice of Virginia Beach for over twenty years and helps to coordinate one of its 15 groups, the Women's Issues Community.

Daughters of Wisdom Award $10,000 Mission Grant to the Interspiritual Empowerment Project