OUR MISSION
To create an environment of support and encouragement in an effort to dismantle racism and transform our city into a community that is inclusive of all people, regardless of race, gender, and socioeconomic status.
Our Executive Director
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER
Regelyn “Reggie” Edwards is the Executive Director of The Encouraging Place, a non-profit ministry in Raleigh, NC created to serve women/families and work toward racial healing.
A Raleigh native, she attended Fayetteville State University and graduated from Justice Fellowship College of Theology with a Masters of Art in Ministry in 2005.
For more than a decade, Reggie Edwards headed the women’s outreach at another local nonprofit organization. There she began a weekly “Mom’s Nite Out” for the mothers of children who attended a youth day camp. The group started with just two participants, but grew quickly as word spread to friends and neighbors.
Women wanted a place to unwind, share their struggles and encourage one another. This became the basis for “The Encouraging Place”, which was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in 2008. Since then, women from all walks of life have come together to make new friends, hear an inspiring message, be built up and encouraged.
Reggie has over 25 years of experience working in inner city communities. She has impacted over 5,000 women through women’s empowerment programs and is a Certified Life Coach. She has led hundreds of men and women in a deeper understanding of race and racial reconciliation. Currently, Reggie Edwards serves on the Raleigh Organizing Against Racism (ROAR) Committee and a strong proponent of the Racial Equity Institute.
She joined Building Together Ministries in 1994, where she coordinated the FRIENDS (youth) mentoring program, the Women’s Outreach, the Racial Reconciliation Ministry & the Christian Community Development Outreach. Reggie admits that she learned all she knows about urban ministry while at Building Together. Another one of her passions is serving on missions teams to Haiti.
Our Board
Broderick Rogers
Chair
Deborah Wright
Vice-Chair
Laura Martin
Secretary
Jamie Rudd
Treasurer
Mary Burr Edwards
Member
Vielka Gabriel
Member
Janet Gruchacz
Member
Phillip Hoffman
Member
Laura Martin
Member
Kierston Bartney
Member