Former Grantee Partner Receives Trailblazer Award
Congratulations to our former grantee partners at The SoulFisher Ministries in St. Louis, Mo., and their Founder/CEO Shawntelle Fisher, who was recently selected as a recipient of the 2023 Women Trailblazer Award from the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Missouri – St. Louis.
The Trailblazer Award is presented to women who have worked to forge new pathways for women and/or women who have contributed significantly to the University and/or the greater St. Louis community. It celebrates women who tell the stories and have devoted their lives and talents to producing art, pursuing truth, and reflecting the human condition decade after decade.
“I’m so honored to have been selected as one of UMSL’s 2023 Women Trailblazers,” said Fisher. “This honor means so much to me. When you’re just doing the work that you are ‘called’ to do, you never really expect recognition! That makes this even more special to me!”
In 2019, We Raise awarded The SoulFisher Ministries a $100,000 GrantsPlus grant in support of their AGAPE Reentry Program, which provides workforce training and educational resources for women as they reenter society after incarceration. Support includes housing assistance, financial education, mental health resources, and employment coaching. The focus: making sure formerly incarcerated women can live above the poverty line while remaining free from criminal activity.
Fisher has a passion to see lives transformed and restored. Through her own struggles and pitfalls in life she was guided by caring members in the community to a path of restoration and possibilities. Through The SoulFisher Ministries, she is spreading hope and empowering youth and those formerly incarcerated, to be positive productive, and socially responsible members in the community.
Congratulations Shawntelle!