Who are we?
Our journey began in 2015, when we informally started doing what we love: creating a community through art, writing, and supportive groups. We organized workshops to help women overcome their fear of writing and workshops for women who dare to write their own stories. Our experience with autobiography and group dynamics—working through emotions and self-discovery—led us to continue offering these groups informally for years.
We conducted the workshops while simultaneously assessing the primary needs of a border community with a significant migration rate, initially due to the disappearances and countless murders of women that had occurred since 1993 in the border region between Mexico and El Paso, Texas. These murders and disappearances increased dramatically starting in 2006. Later, the caravan migration from Central America was triggered by the same circumstances. Women from all social classes, with varying degrees of violence, but ultimately terrified by the situation, arrived to live in the border areas of the United States. Regrouping, adapting, trying to fit in, their physical and mental health deteriorated throughout this process, making them a profoundly vulnerable population with very little time to care for themselves. Given the circumstances of adaptation they face and the total uncertainty: another country, another language, another migratory or social status, another job (or the lack of work), a new family unit, grief, another culture, different governmental and political systems, etc. Having a clearer understanding of the situation and a better grasp of the mechanisms that shape these groups, which also reflect the diverse paths we ourselves have traveled, in June 2022 we decided to found Mujer Migrante (Migrant Woman).
Mujer Migrante is a community-based, non-profit organization that promotes the well-being of migrant women in the United States through autobiographical writing, art, translation, authorship, and emotional support groups. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
President: Betty Castorena / Liaison with community organizations
Vice President: Gris Muñoz / Chicano community outreach and translation
Secretary: Rosana Orona / Coordinator
Executive Director: Dolores Dorantes
Board member: Diana Rodríguez / Workshop Coordinator
Board Member: Mercedes Elizondo
Treasurer: Fernando Becerra