LEWISTON — The Center for Wisdom’s Women’s semiannual Wise and Strong Women Speak is set for 5:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, March 6.

It’s held in conjunction with International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. The program, for the first time, will be held in the former chapel of what is now Sophia’s House.

The program is titled Growing Our Tree Streets and features two women: architect Gabrielle Russell and entrepreneur Amy Smith, both of whom are involved in efforts to revitalize downtown Lewiston and who are committed to the health and well-being of Lewiston.

Russell was raised and schooled in Auburn. She spent five years at Tulane University in New Orleans where she earned her Bachelor and Master of Architecture degrees. After graduation, she decided to return home and worked locally to complete her design internship. She was the architect for the Sophia’s House project.

She works at Platz Associates and has been honored with many design and community awards. She is a Maine licensed architect, a LEED accredited professional (leadership in energy and environmental design), a TEDxDirigo speaker, and is a founder and president of Grow LA. She lives with her young son in Auburn.

Smith is the founder and president of Healthy Homeworks, a Lewiston nonprofit whose mission is to help renters, owners and community stakeholders collaborate as shared stewards of the aging housing stock. Its Build a Bed program teaches groups of residents how to use tools and work together as a team by building beds. Each participant gets to keep one bed, the rest are available for sale, with proceeds going to support the program.

Smith owns and manages multifamily properties in the cith’s Tree Streets neighborhood. Her rental company is also the rental manager for Sophia’s House. She also serves on the Healthy Neighborhoods Planning Council and served on the 2019 ad hoc committee that recommended the creation of Lewiston’s new multifamily rental registration program.

The Center for Wisdom’s Women is a day drop-in center for women. The newly opened Sophia’s House, a project of the women’s center, is a residential recovery community for women who have survived trafficking/exploitation, incarceration and addiction.

Now in its seventh year, the Wise and Strong Women Speak talks are designed to give voice to the often unspoken stories of women.

The center’s Herban Works products will be for sale. Light refreshments will be offered. There is no charge for attendance, although donations are encouraged to support the center. Those who attend are invited to bring contributions of hygiene items (full size, unopened containers only) for the hygiene pantry. Most needed are shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and toothpaste.

No reservations are needed. Sophia’s House is at Blake and Walnut streets. Parking is available on the street or a few blocks away in the Park Street garage. For more information, call 207-513-3922 or go to www.wisdomswomen.org.