Achieving our Mission

The I Symposium is the signature program of the Lola Mercedes Parker Foundation for Economic Empowerment of Business and Professional Women (LMPF). The weekend symposium seeks to Inform, Inspire, and Ignite our communities around a current relevant socio-economic topic/theme. We further hope to facilitate impactful and meaningful community-based dialogue on said topic. The symposium will also equip its attendees with evidence-based community engagement techniques, cultural awareness strategies and community assessment skills. Additionally, we hope to connect our attendees with national and regional leaders, experts and resources that can strengthen the overall programming within the communities we serve.

Youth are a critical component of the LMPF mission. The framework for youth programming follows our I3 (Inform, Inspire, Ignite) framework. We seek to equip youth leaders and innovators with tools for personal growth and community development. We focus on personal, career and leadership development as well as entrepreneurship training for the youth in the Black community.

The exciting new 2023 LMPF initiative, Empowering the Black Community, will focus on 4 critical empowering pillars: Health, Career, Education and Financial. In addition to our essential educational component, the LMPF will provide grants to chapters of Iota Phi Lambda Sorority, Incorporated to enhance their community programming in these topic areas. Our hope is that these grants will stimulate and seed multiyear community programming to affect economic prosperity across Black Communities.