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Leadership Trainings Empower Latina Immigrant Women in Suffolk

Posted October 18, 2011 by Martha Maffei
Categories: Suffolk

New immigrants enrich this country with their insights, creativity, resourcefulness, culture, and hard work but their voices are rarely heard in policy discussions and debates. The situation is even worse for Latina immigrant women, who face barriers and gender and ethnicity, and it’s especially hard those who suffer or have suffered domestic violence.

Many Latina women that immigrate to US bring experience from their countries of origin as community leaders, representatives of organizations, and members of unions, but they don’t know the political system in this country, so their participation is limited and they are not always able to transfer those leadership skills to their new home.

To combat these obstacles, my organization, SEPA Mujer, offers a leadership training to equip Latina immigrant survivors of domestic violence with the tools they need to effectively organize their communities and to have their voices heard. The training includes exercises and discussions that teach leadership and community organizing skills. Through the training, women learn about topics like how to document human rights abuses and how the US government works.

The SEPA Mujer trainings work to cultivate and access leadership abilities so that Latina immigrant women are better able to participate politically and determine the future of their communities.

Scroll down for some photos from our most recent leadership trainings, which took place on September 11, 15, 25 and October 2 at the Touro Law Center in Central Islip:

To get information about future trainings, email Martha Maffei at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or by phone at 631-650 2307.