ABOUT US
May All Black Lives Be Healed, Liberated and Whole
Our mission is to reclaim the inherent dignity, brilliance, and humanity of all Black people.
Our work is an iterative process framework informed by the lived experiences, and grounded in the teachings of Dr. Joi Lewis. We seek to:
Honor families and communities
Provide urgent and sustainable healing support
Address the direct and collateral consequences of racism and its intersection with other forms of oppression
Provide education and training that empowers all through the Healing Justice Foundation
* The Healing Justice Foundation was created by Dr. Joi D. Lewis, Founder and CEO of Joi Unlimited. Members of the Foundation’s Inaugural Board are: Myra B. Garnes, Lesa Hammond, Kabir Mohamed, and Kelley Nelson
We exist because there is no Red Cross deployed to communities where Black bodies have been shot and killed all over the United States. There’s no emergency response for the erosion of our humanity through systemic trauma. The impact extends beyond PTSS (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) because there really is no “P,” meaning there is no “Post” -- the trauma continues.
Our work is to answer the ongoing, relentless need for emergency response with support, healing, and restoration in our community.
The Healing Justice Foundation (HJF) was founded to build the infrastructure, where local, state, national, and social agencies have failed Black people. Dr. Joi created HJF to be at the intersection of mutual aid, public policy, and healing from trauma. We need ongoing financial investment to create a system that pays our Black healers, community activists, and organizers to do the work we do year round.
Our work is only as good as the relationships we have in the community. Thankfully, based on the spaces we are invited into and the people we engage with, it is clear that we have the trust of the wider Twin Cities Black community. We will continue to build relationships and stay grounded in the community, because that is how we will achieve success.
We unapologetically center Black liberation because we believe that when this is achieved, everyone will be liberated by extension. We take a Universal Design approach, in that if there is liberation for those who are among the most marginalized, everyone will benefit. We believe that liberation is intersectional, and when we speak about Black liberation, we mean all Black people (women, men, trans folks, queer, youth, elders, the full diaspora, all religions, differently-abled, etc.).
HJF was founded in March 2020, by Dr. Joi Lewis, a visionary community healer and facilitator of Black liberation. She started HJF because she believes healing is the path to Black liberation. Many Black people are working to change the systems that dehumanize them, and are retraumatized in the process. Healing and healing resources are often viewed as complementary, instead of necessary to achieving racial equity. HJF is changing that narrative by making access to healing resources a central part of dismantling oppressive systems.
Governing documents & Conflict of Interest Policy can be made available upon request.
The Orange Method
We use the Orange Method of Healing Justice as our grounding framework to guide our work at both the staff level and the board level. The basic beliefs of the method are outlined below.
All human beings are good.
Many of the things that get in our way or disrupt our lives are the effects of oppression (anti-Blackness, racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc.)
Everyone is hurt by oppression, by being in the role of agent of oppression and by being oppressed.
Anti-Blackness and oppression is not an inevitable state of affairs, and no human being would agree to oppress another person or agree to be oppressed if they weren’t already hurt in some other way.
Anti-Blackness and oppression can be internalized and acted out among ourselves and within our group.
The process of emotional liberation can free us from hurts and damage caused by anti- Blackness, racism and other forms of oppression, and can help us act more powerfully in all forms.
The Orange Method galvanizes the practices used for centuries by those who possess the sacred asset, what Dr. Joi calls “invisible emotional labor”. This is labor that is not situated in traditional structures, but whose prolonged absence would cause communities as we now know them to crash. The Orange Method’s (OM) critical innovation is purposely seeking people from Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) communities most affected by structural trauma and toxic stress to serve, heal, and work to transform communities--because they are the experts.
We believe that this is a critical time for this work and our community.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Orange Method, you can read Dr. Joi Lewis’ debut book, Healing: The Act of Radical Self-Care.
Our Flagship Actions
In order to be as impactful as possible, we engage with the community in a number of ways.
Community and Individual Healing | Restorative Response
We created designed spaces for community members to heal, process grief, and make meaning during times of crisis, specifically incidents of state violence and police brutality.
Time of Reckoning | Community Action Forums
Time of Reckoning is an opportunity for the community to come together for discussions, solutions, and healing. The roundtable includes local policymakers who have the power or influence to implement the recommendations brought forth by the community through this process.
Grant Programs | Mutual Aid
We want to be in partnerships with individuals, institutions, organizations, families, and foundations to fiercely support the healing needs of Black people grounded in mutual aid with a Black Liberation framework. Black people have always been the architects of their own liberation, and we are committed to meeting people where they are and providing them with the resources they need to advance their own healing.
IN THE NEWS
Press Release, January 26, 2023
Announcement - October 2022
Article - Healing- Dr. Joi , May 16, 2021
Podcast - Healing Spaces- Dr. Joi, April 24, 2021
Article - Healing Spaces- Dr. Joi , April 23, 2021
Article - HJF- Dr. Joi, April 15, 2021
Article - Healing Spaces- Dr. Joi , April 15, 2021
Radio/Podcast - TOR- Dr. Joi + Dr. Brittany , April 15, 2021
Radio/Podcast - TOR- Dr. Joi + Dr. Brittany, February 12, 2021
KFAI
Radio/Podcast - Dr. Joi , January 12, 2021
MEET OUR FOUNDER
Dr. Joi Lewis is a visionary community healer and facilitator of Black liberation. As a speaker, author, and the CEO of the consulting company Joi Unlimited, she’s on a mission to put healing in the hands of anyone, anywhere. Joi Unlimited is a crisis, conflict, and change management firm specializing in transformation of systems and self for collective and individual liberation grounded in radical self-care and community care. The firm helps social justice advocates, institutions, and communities heal from racism and its intersection with other forms of oppression-induced trauma -- particularly after civil unrest -- so they feel grounded, seen, and heard. Dr. Joi and her trained Orange Methodologist (OMies) are often called to facilitate and engage community members during traumatic times, including high profile police brutality cases like Jamar Clark, Philando Castille, and George Floyd.
Her work also extends to philanthropy as the President of The Healing Justice Foundation, a non-profit providing individuals, families, organizations, and communities with resources and urgent healing support for Black people to address racial inequities.
Dr. Joi does her work using Healing Justice as an on ramp to reclaim our own humanity and each other’s. Dr. Joi’s book, Healing: The Act of Radical Self-Care, coaches individuals on the Orange Method of Healing Justice, a framework to interrupt historic cycles of oppression through both radical self-care and community care. Orange Methodology is a coaching certification offered globally to healers, leaders and organizations, as a way to facilitate community healing, along with courses and training.. She offers her OMies (Orange Methodologists) and all those committed to liberation the following meditation: “May the revolution be healing.”
Dr. Joi inspires individuals to hold heartbreak and “joy”simultaneously, because they run from the same faucet. Her work is deeply informed by growing up in East St. Louis, Illinois. Dr. Joi completed her doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania, has conducted research in South Africa, and enjoyed a 20+ year career in higher education as Dean, Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer and faculty member. She is currently pursuing certification with the Center for Mind Body Medicine. She is an unapologetic joy instigator, a certified yoga and the 12 steps, kemetic and hot vinyasa yoga teacher, a facilitator of meditation and mindfulness, and a food prep pro. She lives in the Frogtown neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota.