Mpho Tutu Receives First Marvin Johnson Divesity & Equity Award from ACR

The Rev. Mpho A. Tutu, an Episcopal priest and founder and executive director of the Tutu Institute for Prayer and Pilgrimage, has received the first Marvin E. Johnson Diversity and Equity Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR). The award recognizes a sustained, outstanding contribution or a specific extraordinary achievement that has enhanced diversity and equity within an area of society. It honors the dedicated leadership, compassion and passionate advocacy of individuals who have successfully contributed to removing barriers or obstacles to full and equal participation at various levels of society.

Rev. Tutu was acknowledged specifically for her work at the Tutu Institute for Prayer and Pilgrimage. Like Marvin E. Johnson, for whom the award is named, Rev. Tutu was recognized for helping transform people and organizations, for her understanding of the interconnectedness of the world, and for her personal level of action from which great accomplishments can and do occur. Her global work provides an accurate portrayal of the positive impact many people of faith have on conflict prevention and peaceful resolution of conflict.

For several years prior to her ordination, Rev. Tutu was Director of the Discovery Program at All Saints Church, a weekday and summer ministry for children in the downtown Worcester, Massachusetts. She also worked as the Seminarian Associate at St. Michael’s-on-the-Heights Church in Worcester.

Rev. Tutu studied and taught in Grahamstown, South Africa, at the College of the Transfiguration, the Provincial Episcopal seminary of Southern Africa. While at the College, she joined the Mother’s Union, and worked in both Xhosa- and English-speaking congregations. With a grant from the Episcopal Evangelical Education Society, she initiated pastoral care ministry for a rape survivors and their families.

Rev. Tutu began her ordained ministry at Historic Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia. She now serves as Assisting Priest at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Washington, DC. She is an experienced public speaker and preacher having recently addressed groups and congregations as diverse as Trinity, Copley Square, Massachusetts, Mother Bethel AME church in Philadelphia, The University of Minnesota at Mankato and the Women’s Club of Richmond.

For five years, Rev. Tutu was Director of the Bishop Desmond Tutu Southern African Refugee Scholarship Fund of the Phelps Stokes Fund. That program provided full four-year college scholarships to refugees from South African and Namibia.

Rev. Mpho Tutu is the chairperson of the board of the Global AIDS Alliance and a member of the advisory board Reinvest in South Africa (RISA). Rev. Tutu holds a Master of Divinity Degree from Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA.

                       

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