FSPA connects with Juanita Sims Doty Foundation

In November 2018 on their way to the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, for the opening of Sister Thea Bowman’s cause for canonization, Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Marla Lang, Helen Elsbernd and Eileen McKenzie had a chance encounter with Dr. Karla McCullough, the executive director for Juanita Sims Doty Foundation. That chance encounter at the airport led to the beginning of a relationship that today has resulted in a $600,000 FSPA investment in JSDF’s mission to disrupt the dehumanization cycle and empower black youth.

Together, this partnership will disrupt the dehumanization and racialized trauma of people of color at a systems level through communication, social justice, service and healing. JSDF will continue its work of mentoring youths of color, particularly Black youth, with an emphasis on service, justice and racial healing and expand its mission in community engagement and areas of racial inequity.

Pictured above are participants in JSDF's Engaging Scholars Through Empowerment and Mentoring program.

We are moved to act now. The year 2018 called the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration to declare a Revolution of Goodness by unveiling our white privilege. The year 2020 was one of ongoing civil unrest. The time to engage in further disruption is now. The ultimate goal is to have every person live in an anti-racist world where oppression of any person does not exist.

See Mississippi Link story coverage (page 4)

The FSPA and JSDF collaboration is the result of an FSPA initiative, Seeding a Legacy of Healing

Seeding a Legacy of Healing's goal is to invest (seed) the funds received from the FSPA's transaction with Mayo Clinic into collaboration—into making something good happen. All sisters were eligible to present a Seeding a Legacy of Healing proposal to the internal committee for consideration. Criteria included: four or more sisters determine a project for funding, the Franciscan value of “relationship” must be operative, address broad global/national or local concerns, recipient must be a non-profit organization.

Our seeding effort in Mississippi is just one of many stories we'll tell this year. Watch for updates coming soon to this website.