Meet the 2022 Interfaith Innovation Fellows

Please meet the 2022 Interfaith Innovation Fellows:

BIO: Mohammed is a Virginia Tech (VT) Ph.D. candidate in Industrial and Systems Engineering. He founded the Synergy Interfaith Collective and the UN Association at VT. Prior to joining VT, he was a lecturer at King Fahd University and an ARAMCO project engineer. Mohammed has a master’s degree in industrial engineering and a master’s degree in social and cultural pedagogy from Arizona State University (ASU). During his time at ASU, he co-founded Better Together, another interfaith student organization. Mohammed believes that interfaith gives us the ability to recognize our unity while also celebrating our diversity.

PROJECT: Minimal progress has been made in recruiting and retaining students, especially women and ethnic minorities, in STEM programs, although the proportion of women and underrepresented minorities enrolled in undergraduate programs have generally increased since the 1980s (Lichtenstein & Chen, 2014). Thus, there is a need for programs that bring cultural change in STEM academia. I intend to arrange workshops to engage students in meaningful dialogue on topics spanning the boundaries of STEM, namely interfaith, & social justice, to contribute to the advancement of an inclusive environment, pluralism, and intercultural learning in the STEM context.

Laura Bohorquez (Lake Zurich, IL – Roman Catholic/ Lutheran)

PROJECT: This project seeks to address the lack of mental health resources available to immigrant families in the Chicago suburbs. The purpose is twofold: 1) to fund counseling sessions for families, with providers who are culturally and linguistically appropriate, and 2) to invite mental health experts to speak to immigrant families in their religious and cultural communities. I plan to collaborate with organizations and faith communities that serve immigrants from different nationalities and backgrounds to reach the families who most need mental health services. Specifically, I will work with the Muslim community (primarily Arabic speaking), and Christian communities (Spanish speaking) to target the mental health needs that arise for individuals with that worldview in our society.

Cherizar Tiffany- Marie Lee-Crippen (Richmond, VA – Hoodoo and Aborisha of the Ifa tradition)

PROJECT: The SONG GxSCC is a beautiful collective of southern based folks who practice a range of healing modalities rooted in their culture and queer identities. We are bodyworkers, clergy, therapists, hoodoos, etc., passionate about the liberation of oppressed people. The primary goal of this project will be to create a Spiritual Landscape Map that will function like a digital green book for southern based healing institutions, individuals, and places of spiritual significance, both positive and traumatic. Other work will include a healer rolodex, community based campaigns, toolkits for different learning styles, etc. We intend to build together until freedom comes for the sake of our collective liberation.

Sabriya Dobbins (Orlando FL – Non-denominational Christian)

PROJECT: This project is an interactive 4-part series that challenges a diverse cohort of participants to become aware of and confront their worldviews through designing their own ‘life lenses’ in a hands-on, creative project. By navigating their unique designs together, participants have the opportunity to explore the worldviews of others via a facilitated dialogue and storytelling experience. With faith, spiritual, and moral foundations serving as the backdrop for all people, the core aspect of this project encourages participants to understand how their life beliefs shape how they show up in the world and how it impacts how they perceive others.

Janice D’souza (Brooklyn, NY – Roman Catholic)

Laura Bellnier (Lexington, KY – Non-denominational Christian)

PROJECT (Janice and Laura) : Sex can be a daunting and difficult topic to broach, and the context of the conversation can change dramatically with the location, age of the congregation, religious texts, and current events in the community. The goal of our project is to develop an adaptable toolkit for faith leaders to assist them with difficult conversations on topics of sexual health, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other related matters they may encounter in their communities.

The peer-reviewed tool kit will have two parts – the first will provide faith leaders with the relevant scientific information about sexual health along with resources to learn more at their fingertips. These resources will be adaptable so they can be easily shared and knowledge can be added over time. The second part of the toolkit will be a collaborative partnership between us and the faith leaders to help connect their faith tradition to sexual health. Conversation guides and other tools will create avenues to talk about sex with their congregation and faith community through sermons, small groups, pastoral care visits, educational sessions, and other relevant touchpoints.

Shivam Gosai (Boston, MA – Advaita Vedanta Hindu)

PROJECT: The primary goal of this project will be to create a podcast that focuses on the intersection of Hinduism and mental health. In conversation with various Hindu monks, scholars, and psychotherapists, each episode will explore ways in which psychology and Hinduism can impact one another. As a mental health clinician and Hindu-American, Shivam is uniquely positioned to engage these two world views in conversation. This single-season podcast will allow listeners to gain insight into Hindu spirituality and knowledge that can improve their mental health practices. These deliberate conversations will also aid mental health clinicians in increasing their sensitivity to religious diversity. As more people seek to improve their mental health, these conversations will illuminate the ways in which Hinduism and psychology can provide a unique way forward.

Kalilah Jamall (Jacksonville, FL – Agnostic)

PROJECT: In order to spark more celebration, appreciation, and awareness of the cultural observance of Kwanzaa, Kalilah will provide up-to-date resources, guides, videography and photography of her mother’s Kwanzaa rituals. Her goal is to inspire the new generation of Black Americans to create their own traditions for the holiday season that can exist outside of the Christian tradition to be inclusive of nonreligious or non-Christian Black folks. She also aspires to provide the educators of tomorrow with tools to teach about Kwanzaa with modern twist that will resonate with the generations of today.

Anthony Cruz Pantojas (Brighton, MA – Humanist)

In the Fall of 2021 Anthony worked as Program Coordinator and Educator at Faith in the Vaccine, where their work focused on vaccine hesitancy, as well as spearheading projects promoting civic engagement and critical consciousness through action research and narrative methodologies.

As an extension of their community-based work, Anthony is also a Dignity Project Mentor for the Betty Ann Greenbaum Miller Center for lnterreligious Learning & Leadership at Hebrew College and Boston University School of Theology. As a Youth Fellow for We Got Us, a grassroots collective supporting Black community members and allies, Anthony facilitated trainings on medical racism, activism, and research. Most recently they returned to We Got Us as Assistant Director of Youth Programming. Their academic research interests are Cultural Studies, Afro-Caribbean subjectivities, and Spirituality.

PROJECT: This project will develop a mentorship program to foster community among first-generation students from diverse social locations. Furthermore, this project centers marginalized spiritual, philosophical, and cultural traditions not typically represented in interreligious engagement. The project seeks to not only explore historical elements of interreligious literacy and cooperation. It aims to mobilize college students to navigate the complex social structures that influence the formation of identity, social conscience, and systemic barriers that impede human flourishing. This program will serve as a hub by providing learning opportunities in an experiential and cooperative setting.

Kianna Ruff (St. Charles, MO – Christian)

Kianna is currently managing operations in St. Louis where she supports re-entry community members and local carceral policy change. Kianna has formerly worked at Center for Court Innovation in New York City where she focused on reimagining neighborhood-led safety as a mechanism to minimize over-policing and strengthen community resiliency. Kianna is also a former NCAA Division 1 track and field athlete at the University of Tennessee.

PROJECT: The central focus of this project will be to create a documentary style video with animated digital highlighting how cash bail and the carceral system exist at the heart of the intersectionality of most socio-economic issues with Black and Brown communities. The documentary video will also provide a framework for connecting community, promoting deincarceration, and minimizing over-policing while reimagining public safety through a racial equity lens that encourages community members of all faiths to build power and work together toward a solution. The project will culminate in a fun “Interfaith Night Premiere” of the documentary for organizers, activists and spiritual leaders of all faiths (as well as those who simply want to see racial equity built within their community).

Emma Wonsil (Tacoma, WA – Roman Catholic)

PROJECT: Despite the prevalence and efficacy of harm reduction programs across the county, there is still significant resistance and stigma associated with the practice – particularly among faith communities and healthcare providers. To combat stigma and establish a narrative of communal cooperation, this project will combine direct aid and educational advocacy through the creation of accessible, informative graphics. The first graphic will outline the values of the secular harm reduction movement and the Catholic spiritual tradition, which has historically opposed harm reduction strategies. The second graphic will be created in collaboration with people who have lived experiences of substance use to share their values and hopes for healthcare providers. The distribution of these graphics will contribute to a narrative of interfaith cooperation by designing tangible resources that will highlight the intersections of harm reduction, a faith tradition, and lived experience.

Kianna Ruff, one of the Interfaith Innovation Fellows, joined us for “The Spiritual Legacy of Pauli Murray” webinar where we examined how Murray’s religious commitments and interfaith action provided the foundation for a legacy of love, compassion, and hope. Watch or listen to the full conversation: