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Battle for youth

Women of Mujer have mentored Latinas for quarter century

For the past 25 years, the women - attorneys, interpreters, activists, counselors, mothers, sisters and daughters - involved with the Mujer Inc. have been at the forefront of a war on numbers.

According to statistics presented by the group, Latinas comprise 32 percent of Arizona’s total population and account for more than 50 percent of teen pregnancies. In stark contrast, only 10 percent of Hispanic women have completed four or more years of college.

As Mujer celebrates its silver anniversary this year, members are reflecting on the advancements made and battles fought for the fate of Arizona Latinas.

"We are very concerned about our young Latinas and the issues that they face," explains Director at Large Joanne Garcia. "For those of us who were raised Catholics, we didn’t even talk about (sex) at home. When I grew up it was a taboo. I think that’s still prevalent today."

 INNER POWER, EXTERNAL STRENGTH

Garcia went on to explain that Mujer promotes self-respect and self-esteem in young women so that they will have the external strength to avoid negative behavior such as teen pregnancy, drug use, and getting involved with the wrong crowd.

When Mujer was founded in 1981 by Rebecca Villacan, its focus was on providing resources for adult Latinas. However, members found it difficult to get already-busy Latinas to show up for workshops and events and so in the early ‘90’s changed its focus from adults to young women.

"One year the board met at our annual retreat and we asked ourselves what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go," explains Rachel Angulo, who has been involved on and off with Mujer since 1981. "We wanted young women to go to college and not get pregnant. Many of the women who were involved had seen family members on the wrong track and wanted to help others."

Through its core values of mentoring, modeling and mirroring, Mujer seeks to empower young Latinas with its annual Project Mana Leadership Retreat and its newly created De Niña a Mujer Rites of Passage Celebration.

In 1996, Mujer held their first Project Mana, an annual two-and-one-half day leadership retreat for Latinas in grades 8-12 with mentoring sessions, cultural workshops and speakers.

GIVING OTHERS A CHANCE

Gabriela Zavala participated in that retreat 10 years ago and has come full circle to serve on Mujer’s board of directors.

"I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking back it had a big influence on me to want to achieve something great and at least go to college," says Zavala, who is now an undergrad at ASU with a 3.48 GPA and aspirations of attending graduate school. "At the time I was in eighth grade and I had friends that were gang members and into drugs. If I hadn’t met a lot of those women at the retreat, then maybe I might still be with the wrong crowd."

Current Mujer President Raquel Centeno-Fequiere contends that the focus on individual development may seem even more radical to those who are used to going about change in more of an extroverted manner.

"Women have to create and change the internal if we want to make change," she says. "We hope we can influence the young ladies to reflect the internal power because then it gets passed on.

"It’s like I have the responsibility now to give the opportunity to somebody else," she adds. "Sometimes it seems like Latinas are in a constant circle that we want to break. You see these statistics and it seems like they’re not getting out of it and we want to help prevent that."

With continued dedication, the ladies of Mujer Inc. hope to win the battle, one Latina at a time.

FIESTA DE AMISTADES

Mujer will hold its annual event Nov. 2. To find out more about Mujer, Inc. visit www.MujerInc.net for information about meetings, projects and events.