She Is Unleashed Inner Circle Member Presentations: The Beloved Community - Let's Create It with Marie Jones

Marie is the 5th of 6 children parented by Aubrey Helen and Tommie Lee Clark. Though her parents were both born in Mississippi, they met and married in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1950’s. They were 2 of the 6 million Negros that fled the south between 1916 and 1960 in search of economic dignity, safety, and a flourishing community.  Historically this movement is known as the great migration. They were in search of a community and a way of life that was never realized them.

To a great degree Marie’s work has taken her in search of the Beloved Community. The one for which her parents were envisioning and hoping. For almost 3 decades Marie has worked in the field of maternal and child health addressing the infant mortality disparity that exist for African American babies in Cuyahoga County (In Cuyahoga County African American babies are more than 2 times likely to die in the first year of life than Caucasian babies.) She has managed programs, supported the development of training, lead teams to address employee evaluation and professional development and has been a major spokes person for collaboration in this work to address these issues. Marie was the heart and soul in the development of the documentary One Life which takes both a personal and multi professional look at the issue of infant mortality in Cuyahoga County. (Here is the link to watch the documentary if you choose-- One Life on Vimeo.) She also participated in the planning and implementation of the 44128: One Community which is the only activity to this date that there is a connection to eliminating infant death in a community. 

(Here is a link to an article to read about the 44128: One Community A promising win against infant mortality: 'One Community' celebrates zero deaths - cleveland.com)

Marie’s passion is driven by her love for God and her desire for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will be to done on earth as it is in heaven. Her journey with God has taken her to Zaire (now The New Democratic Republic of the Congo) to work in the refugee camp after the Rwandan massacre, Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, Nicaragua, Senegal and home to Cuyahoga County. Her journey with God causes her to live in the place of restorative love and justice where ever she is.

Marie has been married to Craig for over 20 years and they are the proud adoptive parents of Keasia there 17 year old daughter, Raymond there 15 year old son and Zappa their soon to be 10 year old Welsh Corgi Pembrook Terrier.