Women's Stories

The 2019 Encuentro – We Gathered with Gratitude

If we used just one word to describe the experience, it would have to be gratitude. All throughout the days we spent together, women expressed gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the ESPERA program and the opportunity to meet one another, for the work of Mary’s Pence and the work of our ancestors.

Ending Extreme Sentencing in California

California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) received a Mary’s Pence Grant this fall to help support their Drop LWOP campaign. The statewide campaign focuses on stopping life without parole sentencing (LWOP) and securing sentence commutations for all people serving life without parole in California. Working with over 100 partner organizations, CCWP leads advocacy efforts to end extreme sentencing and improve prison conditions for all people who are currently incarcerated in California.

Taking Care of Ourselves – Mary’s Pence Grantee Discussion

Our grantee partners are all doing intense, challenging social justice work on a daily basis. Their level of commitment often means that self-care for staff and volunteers is neglected. The teleconference offered the opportunity to share resources and suggestions for self-care strategies among grantees.

Multi-generational Issues Require Inter-generational Solidarity

“Lead by example. Support women on their way to the top. Trust that they will extend a hand to those who follow.” -Mariela Dabbah

History shows us that achieving equality is a multi-generational issue. Recent Mary’s Pence grant recipients, Code/Art in Miami, Florida and Project DIVA in Minneapolis, Minnesota, are two organizations who give life to Mariela Dabbah’s words.

A Decade of Hope: Celebrating 10 Years of the ESPERA Program

From the beginning, we knew that unlike other micro-lending programs, we wanted to create a feminist model of community lending, which measures success by the effects the program has on women, their communities, their well-being and economic autonomy, not merely profits and repayment rates.

Intentional Love from Mary’s Pence: the Inaugural Grantee Retreat

As a small women-led, social change organization Mary’s Pence is uniquely positioned to understand the challenges our grantees face, and the benefit of coming together with like-minded women to support one another.

Come, Come, Whoever You Are

Thousands of migrants are trudging across Mexico from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. They carry small children and support the tired and infirm. Hot and humid weather carries with it the constant risk of dehydration, sunburn and exhaustion.

ESPERA: The Reason I Support Mary’s Pence

I had the privilege of attending that first emotional health retreat in La Palma, El Salvador, in 2017 and meet the women who attended from all over Central America. I was so proud of Mary’s Pence as I heard one woman after another thank our organization for its caring accompaniment.

Celebrating All Saints’ Day

Dorothy Day, pacifist, activist and founder of the Catholic Worker movement is quoted as saying “People say, ‘What is the sense of our small effort?’ They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time.”