Lorraine Moore Williams is a passionate advocate for social justice and education. She is the daughter of Isabella Moore and Jimmy Moore of Birmingham, Alabama (USA). She came from a large family of three sisters and two brothers. Ms. Williams grew up close to the hub of the Civil rights movement in America – near the 16th Street Baptist Church, the AG Gaston Hotel and Kelly Ingraham Park. The deaths of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy were instrumental in shaping her worldview and facilitated her commitment to work for social justice.
Lorraine has spent over three decades in various capacities in both private enterprise and public service. She recently retired as an Equal Employment Opportunity Specialist, the only Diversity and Inclusion, Training Specialist for the Office of Equal Rights (OER), Affirmative Employment Unit, for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). She is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (2012-2014), Armenia. She spent 27 months as a Peace Corps Volunteer, designing and developing online Professional Development courses for the Armenian Ministry of Science and Education in student-centered teaching. During her service in Armenia, she also trained teachers across the country. After the close of her Peace Corps service, she became employed at Peace Corps Headquarters, Washington DC (2015-2016) as a Management/Staffing Analyst for Europe, Mediterranean and Asia, the Region in which she had previously served.
Before and after her Peace Corps Service, Lorraine accumulated many years of volunteer and non-paid service appointments. These include a role as Public Information Officer for the Department of External Affairs for the Baha’i’s of the United States, engagement as a Conflict Resolution Specialist, service on a Board of Directors for a Regional Training Institute serving the Columbus, Ohio area, a role on the Franklin County Ohio Area Teaching Committee, appointed to serve in an advisory role for NE Ohio for the Bahai’s of the United States, and delivery of many non-paid speaking engagements.
Persistent, recent, and continuing acts of systemic racism led her to address inequalities and injustices, particularly anti-Blackness, through discussions on “Towards Race Unity”, a service she created to discuss Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility via Zoom. These discussions have reached friends across the USA, Canada, and Switzerland interested in forging bonds of Unity and Peace and working to create new models of unity.
Lorraine has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama, and a Master’s degree in Consultation and Conflict Resolution from Landegg International University, Switzerland. Ms. Williams has lived, studied and served in several countries: China, Armenia, Indonesia, and Morocco, to name a few.
She is a proud mother of two daughters, Britney Nicole and Brandi Marie, and a granddaughter, Violet Mae.