LA MAESTRA FOUNDATION INC
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Mission Statement
For 25 years, La Maestra has been a change agent and anchor for refugees, immigrants and underserved residents in San Diego's lowest income and most diverse neighborhoods. La Maestra Foundation's Generations center opened in 2012 in the culturally diverse inner-city community of City Heights. Youth, older adults, women and other residents in need are offered a growing range of programs designed to empower them with tools to achieve overall wellbeing and greater opportunities in health, lifestyle, education and career. Programs include: Self-esteem and Leadership Development ~ Center for Youth Advancement's Afterschool, Weekend & Summer programs ~ Field Trips & Guest Speakers ~ "Culture & Healing through Art" Classes & Gallery ~ Music & Dance Classes & Performances ~ Exercise & Healthy Eating ~ "Jardin de la Vida" Community Garden ~ Hands-on Training in Computer, STEM & Job Skills ~ Financial Literacy, Microfinance & Small Business Assistance ~ La Maestra Blossoms, a Floral Social Enterprise
About This Cause
La Maestra Family Clinic, Inc., known as La Maestra Community Health Centers, a 501(c)3 founded in 1990 has grown into a Federally Qualified Health Center providing culturally and linguistically-appropriate healthcare and vital support services through multiple sites in underserved, diverse areas of San Diego County. As its board and staff recognized that for a patient and family to be healthy, they must have access to nutritious food, clothing, self-supporting jobs, affordable safe housing, job training and continuing education opportunities, and a wholesome community in which to live and raise a family, the organization expanded its award-winning "Circle of Care" model over the years to provide these non medical programs and services, also essential to achieve wellness. As non-medical services grew, a separate 501(c)3 nonprofit, La Maestra Foundation, Inc., was started in 2005 to house these non-medical services and develop new support programs. The La Maestra Circle of Care is a holistic, solution-based approach to providing programs and services that was created because complete family wellness requires more than just medical services. La Maestra’s team of over 400 staff, who are from the populations served, has embraced the Circle of Care philosophy, working together to identify the total needs of patients and attend to them through preventive care, education, treatment, and referrals to services that address the social determinants of health, ultimately guiding patients and their families to wellbeing and self-sufficiency. The Circle involves a network of integrated services provided at La Maestra Community Health Centers, La Maestra Foundation and partner organizations. La Maestra Foundation provides non-medical services that give residents of City Heights and other underserved communities the tools to become self-sufficient, thriving members of our community, including a Healthy Choices Food Pantry providing over 14,000 bags of free nutritious food a year; job readiness training and placement; computer skills training; financial literacy education; a women’s microcredit program that has helped over 600 low-income women successfully start and expand their own small businesses; help finding safe, affordable housing; supportive living and employment opportunities for people who are in recovery from substance abuse, including veterans and non-violent ex-offenders; as well as legal advocacy and social services located within the clinic. No other organization in the area provides such a broad scope of supportive services to meet the total needs of its diverse patients and their families. Our Jardin de la Vida Community Garden took root in 2010 as part of an innovative program designed by the staff and participants of La Maestra Community Health Centers' Healthy Choices program and La Maestra Foundation's Microcredit Program for Women. The goal is to educate and empower women to be financially self-sufficient and maintain their cultural traditions while improving the health of their children and communities. Plots are used to grow fresh produce for families, cultivate ingredients for products, and to grow flowers to sell as bouquets at La Maestra Blossoms Flower Shop or for special events. Produce is sold at the farmers' market and excess is donated to the Food Pantry. Community members who face discrimination and violations of their rights often find it difficult to decide what to do first and where to turn for help. To advocate on their behalf and assist them in identifying their rights and options available to them, La Maestra Legal Advocacy Services provide information to help clients make informed decisions. If legal representation is necessary, clients are linked to a network of partnering organizations and firms. In the first two years, staff and volunteers served over 650 clients in areas such as domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual assault, asylum, deferred action, family court, labor and housing related issues. La Maestra Foundation’s Generations Center opened in 2012 in the cluster of houses that was the former clinic site in City Heights. Generations offers programs for youth ages 6-18, including tutoring; STEM education; college and career preparation; financial literacy; leadership training and safe recreational and community service activities. Older adults also access the center for exercise classes, support groups, computer training, arts and crafts, gardening and more. Generations also offers art classes for all ages, as part of La Maestra’s comprehensive Culture & Healing through Art (CHA) program. Free educational and therapeutic art classes are held in the Generations art studio equipped for ceramics, drawing, painting, muralism, sculpture, music, jewelry-making and silk-screening. CHA offers temporary exhibits and a permanent collection of exceptional art by emerging and established regional artists; collaborative art projects; opportunities for artists-in-residence and a new retail gallery. La Maestra Foundation published its first book in 2010, called "The Soul Speaks", to share moving real-life stories from refugees and immigrants from around the world to open readers’ eyes and hearts to different cultural experiences and challenges that these populations face in their countries of origin, in refugee camps and the US. "The Soul Speaks" is a collection of stories told by people from City Heights who share their firsthand experiences of suffering through oppression, poverty, and tragedy; living in survival mode; and finally finding the will to escape, start over and thrive in a new community. Transparent People, La Maestra Publications second book launched in 2017, includes a collection of experiences told by people who have risen from a life of addiction into a life of recovery. It is an attempt to obtain a glimpse of what life events led them into their addictions, their lives in that addiction, and what prompted them to emerge from that cycle. Through understanding more in depth from the point of view of someone with an addiction, readers can find clarity, work toward solutions, create hope and have compassion. A third collection of experiences shared by victims of crimes is currently in progress. All proceeds from book sales and related trainings are reinvested into La Maestra Foundation's programs.