Exploring the Perkins Justice Pilgrimage

V. Elizabeth Perkins and her sisters Deborah and Priscilla Perkins serve as co-presidents of The John & Vera Mae Perkins Foundation, which was founded by their father and mother in 1983. They form a three-strand cord to continue their parent’s legacy of reconciliation, justice and community development. They were appointed to this position in January 2015 by the Board of Directors. Through her work at the Perkins Foundation from 1999 to 2010, when she served as Executive Director, Elizabeth started the youth arm as well as the Zechariah 8 (Z8) Housing ministry. Through Z8, she has rehabilitated more than 25 houses in the community and provided homes for the children and families of Jackson, Mississippi. She also was instrumental in repairing homes on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina and housing evacuees. In 2008, she also started the first in-school mentoring program in the state of Mississippi. In 2010, she implemented a summer camp for teen girls called She-ciples, which has educated girls on womanhood, financial planning and etiquette She has been instrumental in working with Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University to set up at the Co-Laborer with Christ Award, which is named after her parents: The John and Vera Mae Perkins Co-Laborer with Christ Award. She was also instrumental in developing the John Perkins Center at Seattle Pacific University, New Orleans Baptist Seminary and Patterson University. Elizabeth has been featured in documentaries and magazines. In 2011, she took on the roll of Associate Producer in the production of Passion for Justice, The Legacy of Drs. John & Vera Mae Perkins. In 2007, Elizabeth marched in Washington D.C. to bring attention to the cutting of federal funds for the poor.