Rev. Dr. Mary Brown and Erica Podrazik, Silence Broken, New Orleans, Lousiana

Silence Broken is a faith-based organization dedicated to the mental and spiritual healing of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse and to equipping faith leaders to build communities that are inclusive, trauma-informed, and survivor-centered. Rooted in the conviction that silence protects systems of harm, the organization works to transform how faith communities respond to survivors of abuse. Through pastoral formation and educational workshops, Silence Broken helps religious leaders across traditions develop ministries grounded in truth, compassion, accountability, and established trauma-care practices.

Autumn Wiggins-Merrill: Faith & Recovery Network, Richmond, Virginia

For Rev. Autumn Wiggins-Merrill, healing happens when people are met with compassion instead of judgment. As co-founder of Faith & Recovery Network (FRN), she works at the intersection of faith, mental health, and addiction recovery — equipping faith leaders and community organizations with practical tools to better support individuals and families facing substance use and mental health challenges. Rooted in both pastoral care and lived community experience, FRN helps bridge the gap between faith communities and recovery resources through evidence-based training, coaching, advocacy, and strategic partnerships.

Ryan Jones: goodlync, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Ryan Jones is the founder of goodlync, a digital ecosystem platform created to help entrepreneurs in underserved communities access the networks, mentorship, and opportunities often concentrated in major startup hubs. Built from Ryan’s experience working in community and economic development across Appalachia, goodlync connects founders, investors, mentors, incubators, accelerators, and universities into one collaborative platform designed to sustain relationships beyond one-time events or local programs. Through white-label community spaces, event management tools, analytics dashboards, peer support networks, and founder resource hubs, goodlync helps entrepreneurs build meaningful connections, discover services and funding opportunities, and gain visibility far beyond their local ecosystems.

Jacqueline Jackson: Mattie’s Garden, Birmingham, Alabama

Mattie’s Garden is a small-scale urban farm serving the Birmingham, Alabama area, led by owner Jacqueline Jackson and rooted in a commitment to fresh, sustainable food. Specializing in microgreens, seasonal produce, and farm eggs, the farm is a regular presence at the Birdsong Farmers Market, where it connects directly with the community each week. Beyond the market, Mattie’s Garden extends its impact by sharing practical knowledge on urban farming and seed saving, helping cultivate both healthy food and local growing expertise.

Donna Loo: Laulima No Na ‘Ohana, Lihue, Kauai, Hawai’i

Donna Loo is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Laulima No Na ʻOhana, a a faith-rooted, community-centered initiative dedicated to removing social, economic, and systemic barriers that prevent kūpuna (seniors) and their caregivers, particularly those who are socially and economically disadvantaged, from aging in place with dignity, connection, and hope. Grounded in the Hawaiian value of laulima (“many hands working together”), the project supports seniors through transportation access, caregiver support, navigation of essential services, and community-based resource connection. By addressing isolation, limited mobility, financial vulnerability, and gaps in access to care, Laulima No Na ʻOhana works to restore wholeness, strengthen ʻohana, and reshape unjust systems that leave elders behind.

DeJuana Golden: The Healing Garden Project, Lakewood, CA

DeJuana Golden is a faith-rooted social entrepreneur transforming neglected land into spaces of healing, nourishment, and hope. As founder of The Healing Garden Project , she partners with churches, schools, and community centers to design and install therapeutic gardens in under-resourced neighborhoods—places where access to fresh food and restorative green space has too often been denied. Through a model grounded in co-stewardship, training, and long-term support, DeJuana is cultivating more than gardens; she is cultivating dignity, wellness, and community transformation.

Ebonie Farlow-Edwards: Compassion Design, Baton Rouge, LA

Compassion Design is a faith-centered digital infrastructure and creative strategy firm that helps purpose-driven organizations and entrepreneurs clarify their message and build sustainable digital infrastructure. Grounded in the belief that creativity is stewardship, the company integrates branding, digital strategy, and systems thinking to help underestimated leaders communicate with clarity and confidence. Founder Ebonie Farlow-Edwards developed the Ebb Effect Methodology to bridge vision and execution—turning purpose into practical, repeatable strategy and strengthening brand positioning for greater impact. She is developing an eight-week program to introduce Black and Brown teens to social entrepreneurship.

Kaitlin D’Antignac, Life of Abundance, Augusta, Georgia

LIfe of Abundance (SWP—Success, Wealth, Prosperity) is a faith-rooted financial empowerment business led by credit specialist Kaitlin D’Antignac. The project supports individuals and families who have been excluded from or harmed by the financial system by combining practical credit-building support with financial literacy education and mindset coaching. Kaitlin’s work centers on helping people understand how credit functions (including consumer laws and credit profiles—not just scores), reduce harmful debt patterns, and use credit strategically to access opportunities like housing, transportation, and business growth.

Cristin Cooper: Coop’s Soups, Oliney, Maryland

Coop’s Soups, founded by Cristin Cooper, is a community-centered social enterprise that addresses loneliness and food insecurity through shared food and relationship building. What began in 2018 as a dinner church in Cristin’s Maryland apartment has grown into a farmer’s-market–based soup business rooted in ministry, hospitality, and mutual care. Coop’s Soups offers vegan, gluten-free soups made with locally sourced vegetables, using a “soup to share” model in which every batch is intentionally prepared with donation in mind—so that sales sustain the enterprise and soup is specifically made to be donated. Through intentional labeling, monthly communal cooking gatherings, and the revival of a neighborhood garden, the project uses food as a catalyst for connection, dignity, and community resilience.

Debbie Almontaser: Bridging Cultures Group, Brooklyn, NY

Through Bridging Cultures Group (BCG), Dr. Almontaser advances equity and inclusion by designing training programs and initiatives that build understanding across communities and workplaces. BCG’s offerings include customized Train-the-Trainer programs, the Courageous Conversations series for educators, and culturally responsive food access programs. Her approach blends restorative practices, cultural competency, and hands-on learning to help people and communities see themselves a part of a diverse interdependent world across racial, ethnic, and religious lines.

Phillip Ford, The Movement Martial Arts, Washington, DC

The Movement Martial Arts, founded by Phillip Ford in Washington, D.C., empowers Black and Brown youth through a unique blend of Taekwondo, kickboxing, and leadership development. Designed to be affordable and accessible, the program integrates social-emotional learning, faith-based reflection, and character formation grounded in the core values of Focus, Integrity, Grit, Honor, and Tenacity—the “FIGHT” framework. Beyond martial arts training, The Movement fosters confidence, discipline, and purpose, helping students strengthen their minds, bodies, and spirits while opening pathways to greater opportunities in school, sports, and life.

Rev. Dianne Rodriguez and Terri Berkey Gonzalez, Greater Woodburn Opportunity Center, Woodburn, Oregon

Spearheaded by Rev. Dianne Rodriguez and Terri Berkey Gonzalez, the Greater Woodburn Opportunity Center (GWOC) in Woodburn, Oregon, is transforming the historic Immanuel Lutheran Church into a multicultural, intergenerational community hub. The eight-acre site will include spaces for social services, early childhood education, senior programs, affordable housing, walking trails, and immigrant care initiatives. The center will also house Feeding Woodburn, which serves nearly 1,000 meals weekly, and the North Marion Adult Center. Rooted in faith and community care, GWOC models a new vision of church—where feeding, connection, and opportunity nourish both body and spirit.

Candace Maloney, DW/B, University Park, Maryland

DW/B: Design Within Studio – Design Beyond Lab
Founded by architect Candace Maloney, DW/B is a Maryland-based architecture and research studio dedicated to community-led, sustainable design. With a focus on adaptive reuse, mixed-use, residential, and commercial projects, the firm integrates local materials and modern functionality to create resilient, inclusive spaces. Candace’s Caribbean roots and deep belief in community stewardship shape DW/B’s mission to make thoughtful architecture accessible to all.

Jada Ford, Sisterhood, Indianapolis, Indiana

Sisterhood is a six-session, community-based program founded by Jada Ford to strengthen relationships between mothers and daughters through shared meals, mindfulness practices, and soulful reflection. Designed to foster healing, trust, and joy, the program provides family stipends and support to ensure access for all participants. With the goal of nurturing resilience and connection among families facing the pressures of modern life, the program models dignity-centered community care and is expanding its reach through partnerships and sustainable, family-focused programming.

Church Space

Detroit, Michigan

ChurchSpace is a platform unlocking America’s largest underutilized real estate network: excess church space. The platform enables churches to transform unused rooms, kitchens, gyms, and sanctuaries into high-value community infrastructure that fuels productivity, economic growth, and local impact. From licensed kitchens to storage as micro-fulfillment hubs, ChurchSpace converts the idle square footage into assets that serve communities and generate sustainable revenue.

Simply Local

Kahului, Maui, Hawai’i

Founded by Starlet Luzon Joao and her husband Clint, Simply Local is a centrally located cafe and gift shop that offers 20+ local business, artisans, and musicians the opportunity to display their crafts and merchandise, along with food items that represent the cultural heritage of the Hawaiian Islands while generating income to support and raise multigenerational families on Maui.

Shalom Creatives

Madison Heights, Virginia

Shalom Creatives cultivates spaces where healing, creativity and belonging intersect. Through pop-up art studios in underserved communities and with survivors of sexual assault and religious trauma, a leadership network for women whose voices are marginalized in faith settings, and creative workshops that foster reflection, founder Amy Hall guides individuals and communities on a path toward healing and restoration.

Embodied Faith

Ewing, New Jersey

Weaving together resources from Dance Movement Therapy, neuroscience, theology, and transformative learning theories, spiritual director Annalise Hume invites people to dance with the Divine. Embodied Faith offers Spiritual Direction and facilitates movement workshops to help others recognize the movement of God in their life.

BraveMaker, Redwood City, California

BraveMaker is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization that hosts an annual film festival each July, bringing filmmakers and storytellers from around the world to the San Francisco Bay Area. Throughout the year, BraveMaker provides community-art building experiences in the form of classes, film screenings and workshops.. Founded by Tony Gapastione, Bravemaker aspires to fund and produce new projects that amplify the voices of historically excluded artists, ensuring their stories are seen, heard, and celebrated.

Lauren Efird, The Carr Center, Cary, NC

The Carr Center is a mixed-use development on church-owned land with the purpose of addressing multiple community issues, including affordable housing and child care. Spearheaded by Rev. Lauren Efird, the Carr Center will provide 51 units of affordable housing to lower income households as well as 11 units of program housing for working families experiencing homelessness. Non-profit offices, YMCA programming and early childhood education will also be on site.