Voices of Black
Mothers United

Sylvia Bennett-Stone serves as the Director of the Voices of Black Mothers United initiative. After losing her daughter to senseless violence in 2004, Sylvia began her life-long commitment of helping uplift the lives of others by founding the Innovative Approach Foundation and chronicling her own healing journey in her book “Mindfields: A Healing Journey to Survive the Murder of a Child”. It is from these committed efforts to serve the community that she started Voices of Black Mothers United. With Sylvia at the helm as Director, the VBMU initiative has grown to service thousands of mothers who have lost children and are implementing solutions to address community violence.

Mary Nelson is the President/CEO of the Mary Nelson Youth Center, a center offering a food pantry for families, computer classes, and after-school tutoring. Mary’s community efforts have grown the center to be a community resource agency for education, health, career services, violence intervention, mentorship and financial literacy. Mary is excited to be a part of the VBMU movement in order to give mothers a voice, resources, and support through the grieving process and helping transform their lives into service. She serves as the State Lead for New York.

Carolyn Johnson Turner is the State Lead in Alabama for VBMU. Carolyn has started several community initiatives including the Parent Against Violence foundation and the “Who Killed my Child” campaign to bring public awareness to unsolved homicides through public rallies, flyers, posters, and billboards. When Carolyn’s son was killed, the Birmingham Police Department did not have a cold case unit. But as a result of her persistent and determined efforts, one was established in 2005 and is part of Turner’s lasting legacy to the city. When Carolyn heard about the creation of Voices of Black Mothers United, she was eager to join this unified nationwide effort to pursue the goals she had been working toward and she became the lead mom in her region.

Donita serves as the State Lead for VBMU in the Indiana region. Her community engagement includes launching the Mothers Against Violence Healing Ministry to provide hope and comfort to bereaved mothers and to meet their practical needs as they make their journey through the grieving process. She lost her son and her best friend to gun voilence and, out of her pain, she started Mothers Against Voilence Healing Ministry Donita is excited to be a part of the VBMU initiative and continue the work of supporting mothers.

Shirley serves as the State Lead for VBMU in the Pennsylvania region. Her experience in community engagement includes founding Your Sister’s Project in order to parlay her expertise in accounting to a financial literacy program for low- to moderate-income families. Shirley has been active in the full range of VBMU efforts, including initiatives to provide outreach to other grieving mothers, serve as their advocate and empower them to have a voice, establish peace and safety in their communities, provide intervention services for bereaved families, and promote positive policing.

Beverley serves as lead mom in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area for VBMU. Her experience in community efforts includes launching Momma’s Safe Haven, which would grow to become a multi-faceted hub of programs and services that offer grief support, counseling, nutritional guidance, educational opportunities, and the unconditional love that can make uplift and transformation possible. The loss of her nephews further fueled Beverly’s commitment to provide the support that was needed for children, youth, and adults to deal with trauma. Today, she is proud of her work with VBMU in providing a platform for the voices of mothers to be heard in all arenas.

Rhonda Knight’s enthusiasm and gratitude for her role as a lead mom in Voices of Black Mothers’ United in Georgia is rooted in personal experience. She had suffered, survived and emerged victorious after the horrific experience of being the victim of attempted murder and rape. Her deep experience in community efforts includes founding a non-profit organization, Uplifting Hearts, Minds and Souls (HUMS), to meet the needs of survivors of violence, primarily women, but also men, youth, and children. Today, Rhonda serves as a motivational speaker and continues to bring hope and inspiration through her personal account of healing and resilience, with an impassioned commitment to uplift those she reaches and inspire them to help others in return.

Zanetia Henry, a native of Waynesboro, Mississippi, and current Marietta, GA resident, holds and operates under many titles. She is CEO of Operation Recovery Inc. and ChoZen Journey LLC., Mississippi State Lead for Voices of Black Mothers United, Grieving Hope Coach, Crime Victims Advocate, Minister, 24 Year Educator and wife. But of all the titles, her most cherished title is mother.

Operation Recovery was organized with a mission to serve and support parents and children with estranged relationships. In April of 2019, after the murder of her 22 year old son Dre, the mission became much greater. She chose to use her pain to fuel her purpose. The purpose is to serve.

Through the nonprofit, Operation Recovery, she and her husband support grieving parents emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and financially. By working to promote unity and stop violence, they strive to provide positive and life changing opportunities for the youth, as well as endeavoring to grow and expand in the work they do in the community to bring trustworthiness between the community and law enforcement.

“I didn’t choose this journey, this journey chose me. However, I can choose how I travel. I choose to travel hand and heart with others that have been ChoZen, while serving along the way.”
Zanetia Henry

Dr. Yvonne Pointer, our VBMU Ohio regional lead, has spent her lifetime faithfully serving and helping to improve the lives of “the least of these” locally, nationally and internationally. She’s a frequent visitor to Ohio prisons; she founded the Midnight Basketball program in Cleveland; served as facility and mentor in CMSD’s Girl Power program;  is the founder of the longstanding women’s support group Positive Plus, established the Gloria Pointer Scholarship Fund through College Now and awards an annual $2,000 scholarship to students in John Hay High School; supports financially The Gloria Pointer Teen Movement in Ghana, West Africa; is a published author and has received numerous honors in the media; and is currently in the process of building the 4^th school in Africa in memory of her daughter, Gloria Pointer.

  She works tirelessly with families victimized by violence and as a result has help many to see that there is life after death. As a direct result of her involvement many families have become stronger in their case to take back the streets.

Marsha Wilson, a Memphis, TN native, is founder of Linking Hands 901 and VBMU regional lead. She dedicates her time in local communities to advocate for gun safety, and creates ways for the youth to live and be our future. She is a survivor, and her vision is to use her voice to stand with mothers and fathers across the country to create an environment of safety and peace. Losing a son to gun violence forced her to turn her pain into purpose, collaborate with mothers who share the same pain, and find resources to accommodate their hurt and grief. She is committed to working with families to create ways to heal and renew their minds. She is passionate about the work that she does.