Poderosa Profile: Veronica Arreola

During this Week of Action, we’ll be profiling a few true poderosas: Latinas who show their power and inspire us in their actions. Today’s Poderosa is Veronica Arreola, a fabulous blogger and feminista. 

On why she is a Poderosa:

It took me while to grow into my role as a troublemaker, but once I did I have embraced it. Sadly, the label of being a troublemaker is often given to me for merely speaking up and pointing out that women are left out of an equation. Or Latinas. Or just questioning the equation itself. That is why I took to blogging instantly. My blog has been the home for my troublemaking for over five years. I hope that even when I focus on the negative aspects of an issue, people see that I want us to change that negative stuff. We have to call out the injustice before we can change the world. I an so privileged to have an audience who is engaged, so I try to use my blog to raise the voice of others. That is why I run the “Summer of Feminista” series. I am so honored that new and veteran bloggers want to share their thoughts on my blog. Latinas are known for our ability to talk, so why not use that amazing gift for good?

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Soy poderosa because I can lend my voice in solidarity

Every time I hear the word poderosa or powerful, a particular experience in my life strikes me immediately. The details are all incredibly vivid and I begin to remember this particular moment that completely changed my life. I was 18 years old the first time I ever felt empowered to create positive social change. At the time, I was applying for colleges and universities and immigration started to play a huge role in my life.  During this time I was lucky to have 2 of my cousins go through the college application process with me since we were all the same age. It was an exciting time for us because we were all about to be the first ones in our families to go to a college or university. After years of waiting and asking others for advice on how to apply and what scholarships to look for, we were finally going to achieve one of the biggest goals we had set for ourselves: to be professionals in the United States. To my surprise, it was while filling out one of those applications that I found out that one of my cousins was undocumented. The blank after “SSN:”  on an application — that I had quickly filled out and overlooked — was the only thing standing in the way of her dreams. Never mind the fact that she wanted to be a doctor and was incredibly smart, or that she was on the honor roll every quarter in high school. It felt as if her shot of going to a four-year university was shot down instantly. The day I found out about my cousin’s immigration status, I felt hopeless and disempowered because I knew that nothing I could say to her would bring the light back to her eyes when she talked about her future.

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Poderosas take action: Tell your governor to expand Medicaid!

This week is about taking action and showing our PODER, and we are focusing in on our governors. As the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continues to be implemented, we must be diligent in our advocacy to make sure that its benefits get to as many people as possible. In the spirit of action, NLIRH is providing you with two very easy ways to take action.

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Poderosa Profile: Dian Alarcón

During this Week of Action, we’ll be profiling a few true poderosas: Latinas who show their power and inspire us in their actions.

Durante esta Semana de Acción, haremos perfiles de verdaderas poderosas: Latinas que nos muestran su poder y nos inspiran en sus acciones.

I consider myself a powerful woman every time I give sexual and reproductive health education to women in a parking lot, or in a Laundromat, and see the expression on their faces – like they’ve never spoken about their own bodies before. When I, or one of the promotoras of the Lifting Latina Voices initiative, help women to discover their potential for leadership, women realize that over the years that others have had more say in their life decisions than they have had themselves – how many children to have, when and where to have them – regardless of their individual future. They then discover their power, or realize they’ve been in abusive relationships where their own pleasure has been put on hold and their partner has never cared about what they feel and want. When we’re able to work with women as they come to these conclusions for themselves, I feel powerful. I feel powerful when I see women demand Health to be able to protect themselves, Dignity to be respected for who they are and their decisions, and Justice to condemn anything they consider a personal attack.

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Environmental Justice: NOT for Sale at Your Neighborhood Health Food Store

We’ve got to hand it to the moms. For years, “green” mommas (including celeb Jessica Alba!) have been sharing tips on how to find and buy the safest, cleanest, greenest products for your family. Moms have been some of the biggest proponents of baby bottles and sippy cups that are free from the nasty endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA)—and just a few weeks ago the Food and Drug Administration followed their lead and banned BPA in bottles and kids cups. While this is great news for some, for millions of women of color and low-income families, exposure to toxic chemicals is much bigger than a little plastic here or there.  It’s an issue of worker rights, economic opportunity, and environmental and reproductive justice.

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Poderosa Profile: Margie Del Castillo

During this Week of Action, we’ll be profiling a few true poderosas: Latinas who show their power and inspire us in their actions.

My name is Margie Del Castillo and I will be a second year Master’s student this fall in the Women’s Studies program at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. I have lived in and around Washington D.C. my entire life and mostly in the state of Virginia.  I completed my undergraduate work at The College of William and Mary and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Women’s Studies in 2005.  I always knew that I enjoyed working with people in my community so after graduating, I started a career in social work, primarily working with Spanish speaking immigrants of color.  Through my work with a local county government, I helped my clients secure aid from public assistance programs like SNAP, Medicaid and TANF. During this time, I spent lots of time with my clients, both in person and on the phone.  I learned about the issues in the Latina/o community, and especially those affecting young women and mothers.   By far, the most pervasive issues I heard about were lack of access to reproductive health care and issues relating to domestic violence.

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Soy Poderosa because I resist: Undocumented and Unafraid

Angy Rivera

At the Latinas Organizing for Leadership and Advocacy training in North Carolina, I was handed a piece of paper. I flipped it over and the sign asked me why I am a poderosa. I stared at the blank paper for a few minutes, remembering my senior year of high school.

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Poderosa Profile: Lucy Felix

During this Week of Action, we’ll be profiling a few true poderosas: Latinas who show their power and inspire us in their actions.

Durante esta Semana de Acción, haremos perfiles de verdaderas poderosas: Latinas que nos muestran su poder y nos inspiran en sus acciones.

I am powerful because I have the ability, heart and passion to empower women in the Rio Grande Valley community.

I think every woman is important and has enormous value and has the ability to change the circumstances of their lives despite the limitations and barriers that each one may have.

I believe in dignifying and lifting all women to be an example for others.

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Join the 3rd annual Latina Week of Action for RJ blog carnival

Next week begins our 3rd annual Latina Week of Action for Reproductive Justice. It’s a time each August where we dedicate a week to taking action, focusing on an issue that matters to the Latina community and making our voices heard.

You can read more about all the activities happening next week here.

Each year we host a blog carnival during the Week of Action as a way to stir up conversation online about our community and our issues. The theme this year is ¡Soy Poderosa!

It’s about claiming our power as a community and highlighting all the ways we’re working to shape the future. It’s about saying we are here and we matter.

To join the blog carnival, simply write a post on your blog or tumblr talking about the ways in which you use your power. How do you influence your community? Do you participate in local government? Do you vote? Do you organize to improve the conditions of your community? Do you encourage your elected officials to take actions that represent you and your issues? Do you talk with your friends and family about the issues you care about? Volunteer with local groups?

We all participate in our own way and that is why we are Poderosas.

In your post, link back to our Week of Action page and send the link to miriam@latinainstitute.org. We’ll include your post in our round-ups and materials about the Week of Action.

You can also join the week of action by uploading a photo of yourself with a Soy Poderosa sign to our gallery. Details here.

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This Holiday Season, Celebrate Our Wins With Us!

“I’m a DREAM Act eligible youth, also queer, and I’m thinking this was an amazing experience for me. It was a concrete way I could link Reproductive Justice to the work I do in immigration.” -Felipe Matos

Felipe’s testimony about the training we piloted in Miami on LGBTQ issues as a matter of reproductive justice is just one example of the strides National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH) made in 2011. No doubt the past 12 months were also wrought with non-stop attacks on low-income and immigrant women’s comprehensive health care and access. But December is a time of celebration. We hope you will join us in reflecting on a few of the many milestones that, with your help, we marked over the year.

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