Oppunityphila

During the month of May, we celebrate flowers and mothers of all kinds: mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, stepmothers, foster mothers, spiritual mothers, etc. We, at Opportunity, Inc, facilitated three very intimate spaces shared among mother and daughter families. We are honored to bring together the women of The Brown-Wardlaw Family, The Lopez Family and The Wiggins-Johnson Family to create this communal art piece titled: PowHer-Full. Each of these women and girls represen...t womanhood, motherhood, grandmother-hood, sisterhood, aunt-hood and daughter-hood. They painted on smaller canvases that they took home as memoirs. In addition, each participant painted on the larger canvas that you see above. The Wardlaw Family put the first layer on the larger shared canvas and dialogued on the importance of family staying together. Then, the Lopez Family added the second layer, and suggested for the future mothers and daughters to hug during their intimate family time. Lastly, a special thanks goes to Mrs. Cassandra Wiggins and her family. She is an avid supporter, donator and volunteer (along with her daughter) of writing the women in Cambridge Springs and Muncy. Mrs. Wiggins also donated the mother and daughter keychains gifted to each participant. This project touched hearts and lives. There is nothing like bringing together families, especially mothers with their daughters and granddaughters. Let's make every day mother's day. Because mothers are PowHer-Full... As an update, the Sista2Sista Soul2Soul program submitted the PowHer-Full artwork for the Daughters newsletter, founded by a member of Let's Get Free based in Pittsburgh, and who is located at SCI Muncy. Thanks to ReConstruction, Inc who reconnected us with Ms. Ellen, who is very knowledgeable about PA's department of corrections. We will keep you posted on what's to come. If you would like to volunteer or host a communal art project, then email [email protected]. If you would like to donate to this mission of creating art for community connections for women by women, you can 1. Cash App: $OpportunitytoAdvance 2. Snail mail a check or money order: PO BOX 28020 Philadelphia, PA 19131 3. PayPal: [email protected] See more

Greetings & Happy May!! We, at Opportunity, Inc, are so proud of our connection with Why Not Prosper and its founder Dr. Rev. Michelle A. Simmons, who is one of our biggest financial supporters. We facilitated another Sista2Sista Soul2Soul communal art project with Why Not Prosper in April at the COVID-19 vaccination community day. The inspiration derived from Why Not Prosper allowed us to first create A Day of Love for Valentine’s Day, then Hope as a part of the Women’s Mon...th 2021 Collection and now Faith + Gratitude. As you know, our society celebrates Mothers in the month of May. We are excited to announce of first Mothers and Daughters Special. Throughout this month, we are facilitating several communal art projects with mothers, daughters and granddaughters. Look out for our beautiful families and the completed Sista2Sista Soul2Soul art piece : ) We, at the Sista2Sista Soul2Soul program, look forward to submitting artwork for the Daughters newsletter, founded by a member of Let's Get Free based in Pittsburgh and who is located at SCI Muncy. If you would like to donate to this mission of creating art for community connections for women by women, you can 1. Cash App: $OpportunitytoAdvance 2. Snail mail a check or money order: PO BOX 28020 Philadelphia, PA 19131 3. PayPal: [email protected] Blessings to you

On this past Sunday, our society celebrated Valentine’s Day!! We, at Opportunity, Inc partnered with Dr. Rev Michelle A. Simmons and the women at Why Not Prosper to create our first Valentine’s Day communal art project. The women were encouraged to put the kind of messages about love on their individual canvases that they would want to receive on Valentine’s Day. Some even added the first layer to the communal canvas. Each individual canvas is represented on the completed com...munal art piece. This first of many Valentine’s Day cards is titled Opportunity, Inc Presents: A Day of Love by Women @Why Not Prosper If you look closely, then you will see love written all over the canvas. It eludes to the truth that Love covers our faults, fallacies and failures. May we strive for the Love that covers others with patience... Another reason why this communal art project is so special is for the first time since inception we presented the original completed project to Dr. Michelle and the women at Why Not Prosper. We also received a $300 donation making Why Prosper are largest donor as of date. We are grateful for the support of Why Not Prosper!! Moreover, we have partnered with Keep It Real Ministry’s REAL WOMEN HEAL Women’s Ministry to help us remain connected to the women at SCI Muncy and Cambridge Spring. Thus far, three women volunteered to write words of encouragement in the greetings cards made from the communal art projects. The Sista2Sista Soul2Soul program was founded by me, a woman, who using art to create community and connections with and for women in the community as well as those incarcerated. Have you considered donating to Opportunity, Inc to further push the vision of the Sista2Sista Soul2Soul project. If so, then Cash App us @OpportunitytoAdvance. All donors will receive a special gift from us. Blessings to you

We, at Opportunity, Inc., have BIG dreams for 2021 and beyond!! We are thrilled and humbled to present our 5th communal art: Dream BIG on MLK Day 2021 Women @KIRM's Food Bank. Opportunity, Inc. partnered with Keep It Real Ministry's food bank, where the pastor is Bishop Wade Jackson, located at 59th and Lansdowne to host our first MLK Day Sista2Sista Soul2Soul communal art project. At this event, Opportunity, Inc: Gave away roughly 70 goodie bags filled with women-specific e...ssential items Connected with Ray, Membership Growth Consultant, from Dedicated Senior Medical Center and Courtney, Medicare Benefit Advisor, from Cigna to send more items to women who are incarcerated at SCI Muncy and Cambridge Springs Raised $5 in donations Added 9 more names to our email list Our program is gaining momentum. We ask each of you to meditate on this question: Are your dreams too big for you to handle alone, and do they stimulate fear and anxiety? If not, then you are not dreaming BIG enough... Opportunity, Inc. continues its mission to provide occupational training, essential services and life skills. Remember, that the Sista2Sista Soul2Soul program is using art to create connection and community outside and within the PA state women's correctional facility. Do not forget that we facilitated a communal art project at Why Not Prosper founded by the phenomenal Rev. Dr. Michelle Ann Simmons. Stay tuned for the finished art piece for 2021's Day of Love, our first Valentine's Day communal art project created by the women at Why Not Prosper. During this year, our goal is to conduct one Sista2Sista Soul2Soul communal art project every month. We are on our way with accomplishing this goal. Each communal art project actually costs $450. We forgot to include the fee to pay the artist. It also covers the items mentioned before overhead, materials, supplies, greeting cards, postcards postage and essential items found in the goodie bags. Thus, the Sista2Sista Soul2Soul 2021 fundraising goal for this calendar year is a more realistic $5,400. Do you want to reflect on the communal art pieces in person? Or even purchase some of the original pieces? Well, we are considering an Art Gala Fundraising event. More information about the Gala to come. We appreciate your contributions and belief in our programs. Donate a minimum of $5 & receive one greeting card or three awesome postcards. You can now request a variety pack of postcards with various communal art pieces that you helped to create. Here's how to donate: 1. Cash App: $OpportunitytoAdvance 2. PayPal: [email protected] 3. Snail mail (Check or money order): Opportunity Inc. PO BOX 28020, Philadelphia, PA 19131 After donating, please include a mailing address to receive your gift!!

Season's Greetings!! We, at Opportunity, Inc., thank you so much for a great year. As a result of COVID-19, we pivoted from our HEAL Expressive Arts Support Groups on Mondays to offering on-line classes. That online program did not get much traction so we no longer offer it. We pivoted again and launched the Sista2Sista Soul2Soul program in August 2020. Here's our accomplishments up until now: ... 1. Facilitated three communal art projects and gave away over 50 "goodie bags" filled with essential items to women in the community 2. Increased our email list by over 25 new contacts 3. Wrote to 65 women who are incarcerated and maintain communication with 10 out of the 65 women 4. Raised roughly $467 in monetary donations 5. Painted a beautiful 8 1/2 by 11 picture and gave it away as a birthday gift to a very special woman who will remain anonymous 6. Purchased 24' by 36' posters with frames as another fundraising opportunity; Naomi's Project purchased the one with their communal art project; and another one was gifted to a woman on her 16th anniversary as a pastor 7. Signed up for the Daughters newsletter spearheaded by a woman at SCI Muncy 8. Presented the idea to ReConstruction, Inc, one of our partners, to use the program for praxis and research 9. Communicated with the founder of Let's Get Free based in Pittsburg and 10. Created our very first "End of the Year" painting and card: Opportunity, Inc. Presents "Swimming in Grace" Thank you for your belief, support and donations to make this new initiative experience a successful launch. With your help, we swam in grace through the turbulent waters of 2020. To learn more about the Sista2Sista Soul2Soul program, go to www.opportunitytoadvance. Blessings to you!!

@opportunity2advance Sista2Sista Soul2Soul program is moving. This 2 palette communal art project from the It's Ok 2 Laugh Comedy Show is coming together and a part at the same time. Adding the finishes to 2 separate palettes presented a challenge. No matter how I tried they didn't connect. So I accepted them as 2 separate pieces and will reconnect them on a larger canvas. Stay tuned for the finished project #artpiece #communalart #nonprofit #painting #initiutiveart #healing #healingthrougharts #mixedmediapainting #instastory #instagood #blackgirlspaint #philadelphia #phillyevents