El Hispanic News Octubre

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Adelante Mujeres: Apoderando el corazón de la comunidad
Adelante Mujeres: Empowering the heart of the community
4 • Octubre 01
Julie cortez
El Hispanic News
Julie cortez
El Hispanic News
Forest Grove, OR — Durante un reciente retiro estratégico
de planificación, un miembro del personal de Adelante
Mujeres sugirió que la primera gobernadora latina de
Photo by jules Garza, el hisPanic news
Cerca de la cuarta parte de los vendedores en el Mercado de Agricultores de Forest Grove son participantes en los
programas de Adelante Empresas o Adelante Agricultura. / About a quarter of the vendors at the Forest Grove Farmers
Market are participants in the Adelante Empresas or Adelante Agricultura programs.
Oregón podría actualmente estar inscrita en el programa
de Adelante Chicas de la asociación.
La respuesta de Cecilia Girón, directora de Adelante
Forest Grove, OR — During a recent strategic
planning retreat, an Adelante Mujeres staff
member suggested that Oregon’s first Latina
governor might currently be enrolled in the
organization’s Adelante Chicas program.
The response from Cecilia Girón, director
of Adelante Chicas, was a simple, “Why
not?”
“We need to let our chicas dream and
dream big,” she says. “But also there’s work
to be done, and I truly believe that Adelante
Mujeres is doing that work.”
While its reach has expanded since its
inception in 2002 — in addition to working
with adult women and school-age girls,
it offers programs for small children and
both male and female entrepreneurs and
farmers — Adelante Mujeres continues as
an expression of one basic theory: help a
woman reach her full potential, and she will
elevate everyone around her.
“Adelante Mujeres believes that if you
educate a woman, you educate the entire
family, and the entire community benefits,”
Girón says.
Those benefits were on display last
month when the organization marked its
10th anniversary with a celebration that
drew over 3,000 people to the Forest Grove
Farmers Market, which Adelante Mujeres
has managed since 2005.
“We wanted it to be a real commu-
nity celebration,” says Adelante Mujeres
cofounder and executive director Bridget
Cooke, “and we wanted it definitely to be
accessible to everyone.”
In addition to accessibility, the venue also
offered a chance to showcase just how much
the organization has grown and diversified
over the last decade. About a quarter of the
farmers market vendors are enrolled in Adelante
Empresas — which supports aspiring
Latino entrepreneurs — or Adelante Agricultura,
a training program for Latino farmers
wishing to learn about organic farming and
sustainable land management.
Both programs are open to women and
men, and while there has been discussion
of whether the organization merits a
name change due to its more inclusive programming,
Cooke likes “Adelante Mujeres”
because it is a recognizes the essential and
formative role of Latina women in their
families and communities.
“There’s still a high need for that,” she
insists.
thE rootS
Chicas, fue un simple, “¿Por qué no?”
“Necesitamos dejar que nuestras chicas sueñen y que
sueñen en grande”, comentó ella. “Pero también hay trabajo
que debe hacerse, y verdaderamente opino que Adelante
Mujeres está haciendo ese trabajo”.
Aunque su alcance se ha expandido desde su inicio en
el año 2002 — además de trabajar con
mujeres adultas y niñas de edad escolar,
ofrece programas para niños pequeños
y para hombres y mujeres empresarios
y agricultores — Adelante Mujeres
continúa como una expresión de una
teoría básica: ayude a una mujer a lograr
su potencial completo, y ella elevará a
todos los que la rodean.
“Adelante Mujeres opina que si uno
educa a una mujer, uno educa a toda la
familia, y toda la comunidad se beneficia”,
dijo Girón.
Dichos beneficios estaban en
exhibición el mes pasado cuando la
organización marcó su 10mo aniversario
con una celebración que atrajo a más
Cofounded by Cooke and Sister Barbara
Raymond, Adelante Mujeres emerged
a 10 years ago out of a leadership development
project at Centro Cultural in Cornelius.
Cooke and Raymond grew up in rural
Oregon communities — Raymond in St.
Paul and Cooke in Woodburn and Yamhill
— and both had backgrounds in education
de 3,000 personas al Mercado de Agricultores
de Forest Grove, el cual Adelante
Mujeres ha administrado desde el
año 2005.
“Nosotros queríamos que fuera
una verdadera celebración en la comunidad”, expresó la
cofundadora y directora ejecutiva de Adelante Mujeres
Bridget Cooke, “y nosotros queríamos que definitiva-
and Catholic social justice efforts. While
working at Centro Cultural, they observed
that Latinas — particularly Latina immigrants
— wielded strong influence within
the home, but didn’t always “have the cultural
support and the social support to
flourish as individuals,” Cooke says.
With input from local Latinas, they
started a pilot project to empower and connect
women at Centro Cultural. It quickly
became clear that a “larger and more
impactful endeavor” would be welcomed
and needed, and Adelante Mujeres ventured
out on its own.
In the early days, Cooke recalls, “We spent
a fair amount of time listening in terms of
what was important for [the women] and
what the challenges were to their growth” —
such as a lack of childcare during classes, traditional
gender roles that limited their activity
outside the home, low self-esteem, and
an absence of clear personal goals. While the
women typically came to this country for the
good of their children, Cooke adds, “Often
times they didn’t think about how their own
growth would impact their children.”
In response, Adelante Mujeres offered
preschool so mothers could bring their
young children with them to their classes,
which were scheduled while the older kids
were off at school. Staff would visit women’s
homes to become acquainted with husbands
and discuss how their wives’ development
would benefit the whole family.
“This wasn’t us coming in and saying,
mente fuera accesible a todos”.
Además de accesibilidad, el evento también ofreció una
oportunidad de mostrar cuánto ha crecido y se ha diversificado
la organización durante la última década. Cerca de
la cuarta parte de los vendedores del mercado de agricultores
están inscritos en Adelante Empresas — la cual apoya
a nuevos empresarios latinos — o en Adelante Agricultura,
un programa de capacitación para agricultores latinos que
desean aprender sobre agricultura orgánica y administración
de tierras sostenibles.
Ambos programas están abiertos a mujeres y hombres,
y mientras se ha discutido sobre si la organización amerita
un cambio de nombre debido a su programación más
inclusiva, a Cooke le gusta “Adelante Mujeres” ya que reconoce
el papel esencial y formativo de las mujeres latinas en
sus familias y comunidades.
“Aún hay una gran necesidad de eso”, insiste ella.
lAS rAícES
Fundada en conjunto por Cooke y la Hermana Barbara
Raymond, Adelante Mujeres emergió hace una década
a través de un proyecto de desarrollo de liderazgo en el
Centro Cultural de Cornelius. Cooke y Raymond crecieron
en comunidades rurales de Oregón — Raymond en St. Paul
y Cooke en Woodburn y Yamhill — y ambos tenían antecedentes
en educación y justicia social católica. Mientras
trabajaban en el Centro Cultural, observaban a las mujeres
latinas — particularmente a las inmigrantes latinas — ejerciendo
mucha influencia dentro de sus hogares, pero no
adelante muJeRes página 6
‘We’re going to empower your spouse and
she’s going to leave you behind,’” Cooke
says.
The classes, which emphasized academic
development — English, GED completion
— and personal growth — leadership,
childrearing — represented Adelante
Mujeres’ holistic approach to education and
empowerment.
“Education is not just going to help you
get a better job,” Cooke says, “it’s really
going to help you become a more whole
person.”
When Girón shares a similar message with
the girls of the Adelante Chicas, she speaks
from a place of conviction and experience.
After her family moved to the U.S. from
Oaxaca, they worked as migrant farm workers
in California, Oregon, and Idaho before
settling in Forest Grove to provide her the stability
she’d need to finish high school.
Girón credits the mentors in her life for
praising her intelligence and encouraging
her to pursue a higher education, and
sees similar needs and aspirations among
the girls and women being served through
Adelante Mujeres.
“I get passionate about the work I do
because I truly believe in it. I’m a product
of that,” she says. “Adelante Mujeres opens
the door to women like myself who want
an opportunity.”
For more information, visit adelantemujeres.squarespace.com
or call 503-992-0078
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