Our Oneness series continues on
Sunday February 5, 4:00 – 5:30 pm
A workshop for communities of faith on the challenges faced in rebuilding and reconnecting post-pandemic
Our conversations that day were centered around these questions:
- What does your faith family look like now?
- What successes has your community had in reconnecting with others?
- Where have you encountered challenges?
- What might we work on together as an interfaith community?
VIEW A VIDEO RECORDING OF THE EVENT
This program is part of Interfaith Harmony Month in the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan Area. Each February, in support of the United Nations resolution aimed at spreading “the message of interfaith harmony and goodwill . . . based on Love of God/of the Good and Love of Neighbor,” the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington and its partners celebrate Interfaith Harmony Month in the metropolitan area. To see a full listing of programs of the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington , please visit: ifcmw.org/
Our Oneness series continued on
Wednesday, September 21, 2022 at 7:00 pm
In Recognition of the International Day of Peace
Building Peaceful Communities
Promoting Mutual Respect: A Call to Action
- We learned ways to be a peacemaker
- We learned language and practical skills to promote peace
- We learned to recognize virtues in others to build/repair relationships and foster mutual respect
Breakout rooms and small group discussion were facilitated by:
Dara Feldman, a passionate educator, international speaker, author, coach and consultant who is deeply committed to social justice. She is a Virtues Project Master Facilitator, Chief Enthusiasm Officer, and Board Chair of Virtues Matter. She is the author of The Heart of Education: Bringing Joy, Meaning and Purpose Back to Teaching and Learning.
Dara was honored as Disney’s 2005 Outstanding Elementary Teacher of the Year and Maryland’s 2015 Mother of the Year.
Follow the links below to view the Zoom recordings:
Video – Part 1
Video – Part 2
SUNDAY, JUNE 12 3:30 – 5:00 P.M.
VIRTUAL PANEL DISCUSSION
Lewinsville Presbyterian Church and Redeemer Lutheran Church of McLean are sponsoring a series of virtual panel discussions on “Pathways Out of Poverty in Northern Virginia.” The goal of panel discussions is to explore policies, programs, and individual actions that can help low-income and vulnerable NOVA residents improve their livelihoods.
Registration Link
This fourth event of the series examines ways of easing reentry for justice-involved individuals and their families. The event will draw on the experiences and knowledge of panelists from state government and NGOs including the Virginia State Crime Commission, the Virginia Coalition Against Human Trafficking and Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources.
Pathways panel discussion series topics include:
• ACCESSING AFFORDABLE HOUSING – October 2021
• IMPROVING FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT – January 19, 2022
• IMPROVING JOB PREPAREDNESS – March 20, 2022
• EASING REENTRY – June 12, 2022
Note: Videos of previous events can be found at:
* (Affordable Housing) youtube.com/watch?v=X-gMvIXqu-I
* (Financial Empowerment) youtube.com/watch?v=LOYKKDG2rbU&t=15s
* (Job Preparedness) youtube.com/watch?v=zjl6xyMYmvQ
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Our Oneness series continues
Sunday, April 3, 2022 at 4:00 pm
ONLINE EVENT (register below)
All are invited to Pause for Peace
About this event
Just imagine if you invited everyone you know to invite everyone they know to “Pause for Peace” … just stop what they are doing for maybe 1 or 2 minutes (or more if they choose) and consciously choose to be peace. Their worlds will be transformed, and in the process, our whole world will experience a shift. Peace will prevail.
You are invited to immerse yourself for an hour in Prayers and Meditations for Peace from an array of traditions as we collectively raise the consciousness of the world to Peace.
The audio from this event is available below.
Our Oneness series continued on Sunday, February 13, 2022
LINK TO ZOOM VIDEO RECORDING
Imagine trying to enroll your children in school, rent an apartment, set up a bank account or establish internet service having left your documents behind when you fled. Even if you have your records, many “basic services” require proof of employment, so how do you get a job? There are many challenges.
It’s not nearly as simple as you may think.
Learn from individuals who have been working with evacuees from Afghanistan to get settled in the U.S. Get answers to your questions about how you can help.
Sunday, January 16, 2022
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Tysons Interfaith (TI) coalition members Lewinsville Presbyterian Church and Redeemer Lutheran Church of McLean are jointly sponsoring a series of virtual panel discussions on “Pathways Out of Poverty in Northern Virginia.” This second event of the series addresses financial empowerment.
To register go to the following link: us02web.zoom.us
ABOUT THE EVENT. This Pathways panel discussion event examines one of the key barriers to escaping poverty in Northern Virginia: financial illiteracy, how poor borrowing practices and low credit scores limit the capacity of low-income residents to access everything from affordable housing and first-time home-owner mortgages to small business loans and consumer credit, and too often entrap many borrowers in a cycle of indebtedness from which they find it difficult to escape. The event will also illustrate how some organizations are transforming lives through financial mentoring and coaching to build money management skills.
The event features Anamarie Lusardi, Founder and Director of the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center at the George Washington University School of Business; Maria Jose Cantoni, Director of the Financial Empowerment Center in Fairfax County, a division of Britepaths, Inc.; and Donna Snyder-White, Vice President for Financial Empowerment at StandByMe (UnitedWay/Delaware). Irene Foster, Professor at the George Washington University, will moderate the discussions and facilitate attendee Q&A.
ABOUT THE SERIES. The goal of the series is to understand the barriers – and to explore policies, programs, and individual actions that can help remove the barriers – to upward mobility facing our NOVA region’s low-income residents. Other Pathways topics include:
- Accessing Affordable Housing – October 2021
- Free Community College Technical Training – March 2022
- Expungement Of Misdemeanor Convictions – May 2022
- Accessing Affordable Child Care – June 2022
Additional information about the panel discussions, ZOOM event links, and recordings of past sessions are available at: www.lewinsville.org or redeemermclean.org
Our Oneness series continues 4:00 on Sunday, December 5, 2021 with a presentation by our guest speakers (see detailed biographies below):
Mary Akrami, Executive Director
Afghan Women’s Skills Development Center
Palwasha Hassan, Director
Afghan Women’s Educational Center
Naheed Sarabi, Former Deputy Minister of Finance for Policy
United Nations Development Programme Afghanistan
Learn about the experiences of our speakers who have made the journey to the United States
You will have an opportunity to get your questions answered
More about our speakers:
Mary Akrami is the Executive Director of the Afghan Women Skills Development Center (AWSDC), the organization that established the first shelter for women at risk in 2003.
Ms.Akrami envisioned an equitable and peaceful society through AWSDC and initiated the community based peace shuras (councils) in different provinces of Afghanistan. These peace councils became the only platform where women were able to find an opportunity to engage in conflict resolution mechanisms at the local levels and that was the start of women’s inclusion in community based peace building.
Ms.Akrami’s organization has been working with other civil society organizations engaged in peace building and conflict resolution programs and provided them with trainings and mentoring on mechanisms on women’s engagement in political and community based peace building.
In additions to promoting women’s contribution in the community based peace building and conflict resolution, Ms.Akrami has been engaged in advocacy and campaigning for women’s inclusion within the political and peace processes that included the 2010 Peace Consultative Jirga & the 2011 Grand Assembly for Peace Process.
For her struggles for women’s rights, Ms.Akrami received the International Women of Courage Award from the United States, Department of State in 2007. Ms.Akrami has participated in numerous international conferences and regional platforms for women in peace in Af-Pak region.
Ms. Akrami is an alumni of New York University’s Human Rights Advocacy Fellowship in Newyork, United States.
Under her leadership for reintegration of women survivors of violence (reside in AWSDC run shelter) through economic empowerment, a number of shelter residents are trained in hotel management and a restaurant is opened for them. This is the first restaurant in the history of Afghanistan which is owned and run by women.
Palwasha Hassan is the director of Afghan Women’s Educational Center. She holds a master’s degree in Post-war Recovery Studies from York University, UK and has been former fellow in United States Institute of Peace. She is a dedicated Women’s Rights activist pioneering many critical work for promotion of Women’s rights and civil society in Afghanistan that includes first women legal support organization Roazana, Women and street Children Center, Madadgar Women and Children Safe Home Network, Irfan Cultural Center among others. She is a strong advocate on women peace building and political participation. Palwasha Hassan started her career as volunteer with AWEC while pursuing her school as refugee in Pakistan. As a young women activist she laid the foundation of Afghan Women Network (AWN), a visionary movement of women which up today is playing pivotal role in Women’s right lobby in the country from last twenty years.
Naheed Sarabi is the former assistant resident representative UNDP Afghanistan and Former Deputy Minister of Finance for Policy from 2017 to May 2020. With more than seven years of development-related experience, Ms. Sarabi worked with a team of experts to help develop the Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework (ANPDF). During her position as Director of Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS), she helped with overseeing the preparation of implementation plans for the ANDS and its 22 National Priority Programs (NPPs) and assisted in establishing the monitoring framework for these national development programs. Ms. Sarabi earned a bachelor in Political Science from Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi University, an M.A. in Development Management from Ruhr University – Bochum, Germany and an M.A. in Applied Economics from Western Michigan University, USA
Sunday, October 31, 2021
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Registration Closed
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About the Series. Pathways out of Poverty in Northern Virginia begins with the knowledge that affluent Northern Virginia is home to many poor families and individuals who are confronted daily with a multitude of simultaneous challenges. The goal of the series is to understand these barriers, and to explore policies, programs, and individual actions that can help remove the barriers facing our neighbors.
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About the Panelists |
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Christopher Fay is executive director of Homestretch, a program for homeless families in Northern Virginia. Homestretch has earned numerous awards and media attention for its outstanding outcomes in helping homeless families transform their lives. Before Homestretch, he served as director for Delancey Street Replication of the Milton Eisenhower Foundation. Delancey Street is widely recognized as the most innovative and successful program for ex-offenders in the world. Mr. Fay is also an illustrator of over a dozen children’s books including the award-winning “Inigo.” His original screenplay for the 2004 Showtime movie “Carry Me Home” also earned him a Humanitas Prize nomination and an Emmy Award nomination. He has served on many boards including for the Children of Uganda and on the board of trustees for the Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia. He has a bachelor’s degree from Carnegie-Mellon University and a master’s degree from Columbia University.
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Carmen Romero is the President and CEO of Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH). Ms. Romero joined APAH in 2011 and has spent
the last decade overseeing the real estate team contributing to the creation or preservation of over 1,000 new affordable housing units in the DC region with additional developments underway today in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Montgomery counties. Under Ms. Romero’s leadership, APAH’s Real Estate Development team has delivered several innovative, award-winning affordable housing properties, including Queens Court, Gilliam Place (a partnership with Arlington Presbyterian Church), Columbia Hills, and The Springs. In addition, she oversaw APAH’s projects under active construction in Arlington. This includes Lucille & Bruce Terwilliger Place, a 160-unit affordable property born out of an innovative partnership with the American Legion Post 139, and a joint venture with E&G Group to develop 98 units of affordable senior housing in Loudoun County (Loudoun View Senior Residences). Prior to joining APAH in 2011, Ms. Romero was a Director of Real Estate Development and public- private partnerships at Clark Construction. She began her career at Marriott International. She has a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and an MBA from the Wharton School. |
About the Moderator |
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James H. Edmondson, Principal of E&G Group, has over thirty years of experience in real estate development and finance. In 1981 he persuaded a former colleague and then Touche Ross principal, Tom Gallagher, to join him in forming Edmondson & Gallagher with the purpose of acquiring and redeveloping post-war apartments in the D. C. area using the new financing tools and tax laws. The firm grew a portfolio of approximately 3,000 deed-restricted units and created a property management company that continues. E&G became expert in compliance issues and the rehabilitation of apartment buildings. The firm and its principals continue to develop, own and manage affordable apartments. Edmondson is active in local affairs in Northern Virginia. He was a founding member of AHOME, an affordable housing advocacy group; he was vice chair of the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia for many years; he has served as an elder of Lewinsville Presbyterian Church; and in 2009 Governor Kaine re-appointed him as a consumer representative to the Virginia Board of Health. Edmondson has an A.B. in Economics from Princeton, where he is active in alumni affairs, and an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia’s Darden School.
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About the Convener |
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James E. Foster is the Oliver T. Carr Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics at the George Washington University. Professor Foster’s research focuses on welfare economics — using economic tools to evaluate and enhance the wellbeing of people. His work underlies many well-known social indices directing public action including the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) published annually by the UNDP in the Human Development Report and dozens of national MPIs from Paraguay to Pakistan. Prof. Foster has a bachelor’s degree from New College of Florida and a doctorate from Cornell. He has served as an Elder at Lewinsville Presbyterian Church.
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Events in this Series
Accessing Affordable Housing (Oct. 31)
Improving Financial Literacy
Reducing Barriers to Education and Training
Expunging Misdemeanors
Expanding Community Engagement
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