The Rev. Dr. Joi Orr is a passionate educator, faith leader, and visionary director of programs that nurture food sovereignty and climate resilience in African American communities.

In partnership with GIPL, Dr. Joi is working on a project to empower Black religious communities to understand disaster preparedness and climate resilience as spiritual practice and community care. The project centers on remembering and reclaiming ancestral and Indigenous survival wisdom.

Currently, she serves as an Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), where she also directs the ITC Food and Land Institute—a hub for spiritual formation, ecological justice, and community transformation. Through curated gatherings, public theology, and capacity-building initiatives, the Institute strengthens the ability of churches to engage in food sovereignty, land stewardship, and sustainable energy work.

Dr. Joi’s scholarship explores the ethical dimensions of American food systems, land justice for African Americans, and environmental justice. She holds a Ph.D. in Religion from Emory University, a Master of Divinity from the Howard University School of Divinity, and is an itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

In addition to her work at ITC, she teaches at Princeton Theological Seminary, where her course, "The Prophetic Imagination in the Context of Eco-crisis," invites students to grapple with climate grief and imagine communities untethered from overconsumption and ecological extraction.

A budding beekeeper and proud naptime enthusiast, Dr. Joi brings heart, hope, and healing to every space she inhabits—cultivating not just ideas, but beloved community.