Rev. Michael Lynn Sessoms
Co-Chair
About Us
Virginians Organized for Interfaith and Community Engagement
Who We Are
VOICE is a nonpartisan coalition of over 48 faith and community organizations in Northern Virginia working together to build power in middle and low-income communities. Since our founding in 2008, we have organized in Prince William, Fairfax, and Arlington counties as well as the City of Alexandria uniting people across lines of race, class, religion, political party and geography to take action on key issues in our community.
Vision
A Virginia where all families and communities have the opportunity to thrive.
Mission
VOICE is a network of faith and community organizations in Virginia that brings people together across lines that often divide us so we can build the power needed to make meaningful change across the Commonwealth.
- Relational Power: We build and nurture relationships within our diverse communities and with decision-makers. We meet to face with our neighbors and community leaders to learn one another's stories so that we can act powerfully together.
- Listening: We start and anchor our organizing action by listening deeply to each other's experiences, challenges, solutions and passions through face to face one on one meetings and group listening sessions.
- Justice: We take collective action across diverse communities, guided by fairness and care for the most vulnerable and marginalized.
- Winning: We pick our issues and campaigns carefully and do deep research to maximize our impact. We organize people together across the dividing lines of race, ethnicity, economic standing, neighborhood, gender, and religious affiliation because that broad base is what it takes to win. We seek to create an environment where everyone is values and has an equal opportunity to participate.
- Accountability: We hold ourselves responsible for our commitments and hold decision-makers responsible for theirs.
- Respect: We work through differences and change with respect for each individual. Transforming communities to be more equitable and inclusive can be difficult and cause conflict, but by listening, respectfully, we know that conflicting positions can be part of a healthy, natural, collaborative and participatory process.
- Financial stewardship: We honor the support of our donors and members by safeguarding and using our resources to ensure sound financial footing for the future.
VOICE | Our Approach
Relational organizing, the core of our approach, involves building trust and commitment across diverse institutions through leadership development, relationship-building, issue research, and organized action. VOICE’s work is founded out of the tradition of broadbased organizing developed over the past 75 years. This model engages leaders from our member institutions in a cyclical process, from identifying and nurturing leaders inside and around their institution to strategic action and continuous reflection.
The aim is to address injustices arising from isolation and racial and socio-economic inequity. By strengthening institutions and fostering public relationships, broad-based relational organizing serves as a calculated response, paving the way for effective collective action. Day to day this means staff focus on building and supporting teams within and across our member institutions through this cycle of relationship building, listening, researching, acting, and reflecting.
VOICE 2025-2027 Strategic Plan
Our History
Out of the tragedy of 9/11, a small group of clergy leaders in Arlington and Alexandria began to meet regularly for breakfast, to talk about how they could build an interfaith collaboration to respond to community needs and crises. For several years their numbers grew as more and more leaders joined in exploring possibilities.
By 2005, organizers from local organizing groups WIN (Washington Interfaith Network) and AIM (Action in Montgomery) had joined in helping create house meetings among more and more clergy, and the next year, at a gathering of some 40 clergy leaders in the basement of Macedonia Baptist Church, a vote was taken to formally begin the work of starting a new organization in Northern Virginia, intentionally multi-faith, multi-racial, and multi-ethnic. Money was committed, and with WIN’s financial support, a Senior Organizer was hired part-time to lead the group towards its launch.
Meet The
Executive Team
Four members of the Strategy Team make up the Executive Committee, which meets often with VOICE staff and represents VOICE formally:
Rev. Mandy North
Co-Chair
VOICE is a 501(c)3 non-profit, independent and non-partisan. We’re led by a diverse team of religious, lay, and community leaders from across Northern Virginia.