Rev Dr Donna Lawrence Jones has been a restorative practitioner, trainer, author, and advocate for over two decades. Dr Jones serves as Executive Director of the Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia, a Church Foundation that resources nonprofits, grass-roots community leaders, and congregations involved in the education of persons living in low-wealth neighborhoods through its Mabel Kuhn and Walter S. Kuhn Memorial Trust: distributing over $125,000 in grants to individuals, organizations and groups in the tri-State Area during 2019).

Dr. Jones has been a Restorative Practice trainer since 2004, and in 2017 founded of the Restorative Cities Initiative™, which promotes training and advocacy collaboratively with city residents and public/private-, formal and informal- city agencies toward neighborhood wide integration of restorative practices throughout social systems toward community wellbeing.

The Reverend Dr. Donna Lawrence Jones currently serves as founding pastor of the Cookman Beloved Community Baptist Church in West Philadelphia. The people of Cookman have been very active locally, nationally and internationally in the areas of education and restorative justice, impacting vulnerable adolescents and their families who reside in low-wealth communities.

She holds a Doctor of Ministry in Renewal of the Church for Mission from Palmer Theological Seminary, a M.Div. from Lutheran Theological Seminary and a B.A. in Biology from Temple University.

Donna has been married to Mr. Kim Jones for over 40 years, and they have been blessed with four biological children and their families, including: Jason, Mark (with Yattah), Jennette (with Kelvin Jackson), and Robert (with Faith), and two foster-sons: Gregory Payne [deceased], and Gary Ruffin.