“I Came Home with Hope”
Reflections from the 2026 Mary’s Pence Grantee Gathering By Anisa Hajimumin When Comfort Dondo, Founder and Executive Director of Phumulani: African Women Against Violence, invited me to accompany her to the 2026 Mary’s Pence Grantee Gathering, I thought I knew what awaited me. What I did not expect was to leave with a renewed sense […]
Giving Beyond a Lifetime: Bernie Joyce’s Legacy at Mary’s Pence
This summer, we said goodbye to one of our longtime supporters, Bernice “Bernie” Joyce. She was a founding member of St. John Neumann Church in Eagan, Minnesota, which hosts a...
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Living With No Water: How Drought Is Reshaping Daily Life in Central America
It's 1 a.m., and in the Honduran mountains it’s pitch black outside. Rafalea grabs her bucket and sets out on a two-hour walk. She moves quickly along the mountain trails,...
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When Workers Have a Say in Their Future: Reimagining Work in New Orleans
Labor Day was created in 1894 to honor the contributions and power of working people who organized and advocated for safer, more just working conditions. More than a century later,...
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A Day at the Little Green Market in Nicaragua
On a sunny spring day in Nicaragua, the excitement was palpable since early morning. Women entrepreneurs arriving at the Central Plaza from nearby towns carefully arranged their products and greeted...
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A Place to Belong
When Frances "Franco" Stevens came out as a lesbian in 1990, she searched for a magazine that could help her make sense of this new chapter. She was looking for...
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Olga’s Journey and the Transformative Power of Mary’s Pence Program in Honduras
In many rural communities across Honduras and Central America, women live in deeply rooted patriarchal systems that shape nearly every aspect of life, from access to land and credit to...
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Full Circle: From Grantee to Executive Director
Mary’s Pence new Executive Director, Emily Monroe, used to be a grantee! Back in 2013, Emily applied for a grant for Casita Copán, a community organization that she helped found...
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Up Before the Sun: The Invisible Labor of Women Leaders in Central America
In Suchitoto, El Salvador, women of a Local Leadership Council gathered to reflect on their lives through drawings — many centered on the sun, a symbol of both nourishment and hardship in daily rural life.
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Tiwhe: Ancestry, Art, and Justice at Mary’s Pence Art Crawl
Mary’s Pence celebrated the Saint Paul Spring Art Crawl with a pop-up exhibition grounded in a central question: How do we honor the ancestors who guide our work today? Framed...
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