PROYECTO MATRIA INC
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Mission Statement
Our Mission: To transform society and advance the equity of social groups marginalized by poverty and discrimination through actions aimed at educating communities and professionals, facilitating individual and community empowerment, offering economic development, housing and community revitalization services to women, LGBT people and families who live in poverty. 2022- Since its origins in 2004, Matria has been dedicated to working on the economic and social rights of women victims of gender-based violence or heads of households with low and very low income. Along the way, that mission was expanded to work on the rights of other vulnerable communities, such as LGBT communities and, after Hurricane Maria, with families in rural areas of Puerto Rico. Matria has the following programs: • Arepa Chic (Social enterprise and business incubator) • Gaia (Permanent Housing Program) • Gaia Arcoíris (Transitional housing program for LGBT people), • Casa Solidaria Matria (Orocovis disaster recovery project that includes a governance component) • Mesa Social [Social Table] (Special project under which we also created the Network for Public Education) • Helpline “Estamos para ti” (24/7 helpline line for women and victims of gender-based violence) • Pro-Bono Matria (Pro bono legal program) • La Ruta de las Mujeres (Public policy and political empowerment project to ensure the human rights of women and LGBT people) In addition, we have always worked with community and professional education on issues of human rights, equity, feminism and community economy development. To date, Matria has provided temporary and permanent housing services to more than 500 women/LGBT and their families through its Gaia programs (Total people served 1,650+). In its economic development program, which includes the Libera incubator and the training and work program, we have served more than 650 people. Libera evolved to become the Arepa Chic social enterprise in which we use a hybrid model of creating decent jobs and incubating micro-enterprises. Our educational component has reached more than 10,000 people of all ages throughout Puerto Rico. In our Casa Solidaria we work annually with nearly 100 families in the community to offer different types of support. Our participants base comes from 15+ towns around Puerto Rico. In addition, our work in alliances to offer services and promote actions in favor of human rights in the country includes more than 35 organizations.
About This Cause
Evolution of Matria Proyecto Matria was born in 2004 to offer housing and economic development services to women in situations of domestic violence. Those programs supported our participants to study, get a job or start their micro-enterprises in non-traditional trades for women. Eighteen years later, we are the only organization in Puerto Rico that combines knowledge and actions that includes: (1) Direct service based on its own model of work centered on human rights, feminist theories and science-based practices; (2) A work of education and citizen empowerment that generates alliances to face threats to human rights in the country; (3) A work of public policy and advocacy that aims to transform the social structures that cause inequality and violence against women, LGBTTIQ people and people living in conditions of poverty. Reaching this point has required the transformation of work practices within the organization, maintaining a constant process of education, establishing dialogues with other sectors and assuming important tasks in social initiatives that are in line with our values. Matria cannot be classified as a service organization because it is more than that. Our motto is “Service without activism falls short”. That explains why, despite having important service programs that have made a difference in the way inequalities are addressed in Puerto Rico, our advocacy is sometimes more visible. Since 2004, Matria evolved to be closer to a model of response to the needs that we were identifying in the process of providing services to the participants. We did not want to simply react to violence and inequalities, but rather learn and incorporate women's experiences into our model and our advocacy efforts. The experiences with the participants have demarcated the path of our strategies and work. Our programs were built from a gender and human rights perspective to maintain sustained growth for the past 18 years. In 2006, Matria began developing its own business incubation model that has been presented at international forums in places such as Turkey, the Basque Country, the Dominican Republic and the United States. We also have publications on empowerment and practical entrepreneurship. We are part of various initiatives for the defense of human rights and we are recognized as an organization that manages to respond with projects and actions to social and economic inequities. All this knowledge was translated into a professional and community education effort called the Institute of Gender and Advanced Education, which for five years provided continuing education to professionals in psychology, social work, law, and other areas of health, as well as to students and general public. Alliances Matria maintains alliances at multiple levels. Currently more than 35 organizations are part of our network. In our service programs we maintain alliances with other service entities dedicated to serving women, LGBTTIQ people and people in poverty. Those organizations include women's shelters, health organizations such as Health Pro Med, Centro Ararat, Casa Juana Colón, Hogar Ruth, Casa de la Bondad, CAVIC (Inter-American University) and Profamilias. From Casa Solidaria Matria we developed various alliances with entities or groups such as the Orocovis Mountain Integrated System, organizations such as the Ana Dalila Burgos Foundation and Radio Cumbre. At the governmental level, we coordinate services with the PR Police, the Help Center for Rape Victims and with the Municipality of Orocovis, among others. From La Ruta de las Mujeres and the Mesa Social we have formal agreements with at least 15 advocacy and service entities. Other strategic alliances include initiatives with cooperatives such as Jesús Obrero, universities with which we work as a practice center, and with organizations dedicated to research or advocacy. Achievements from 2019 to 2022 In 2019, in collaboration with Kilómetro Cero, we published the first study on femicides in Puerto Rico, entitled "The Persistence of Indolence: Femicides in Puerto Rico 2014-2018." It not only had an impact at the time, but has also been used in the explanatory memoranda of legislation on the subject and is used in government agencies and in universities when studying and working on violence against women. Our recommendations are used as part of action plans. That same year we were producers of a historical documentary that dealt in depth with the issue of violence against women in Puerto Rico entitled “[el] corazon delator” by filmmaker Guillermo Gómez. In 2020, COVID 19 led us to create two new projects: (1) our 24/7 help line called Estamos para Ti; and (2) the Mesa Social Puerto Rico. Both projects were pioneers in the country. The Help Line is an innovative project in which a virtual call center allows seven women's organizations to address situations of gender violence. The Mesa Social made history by monitoring the government’s actions in the midst of the COVID 19 crisis, proposing and executing responses and creating a space with organizations and people from all over the country who organized themselves by thematic axes to address hunger, lack of access to health services, the need to defend education and our democracy. Both projects are still active and bearing fruits. In that same year, 2020, we started the operation of Arepa Chic, our social enterprise and microfranchise that is operated 100% by women and that is dedicated to the preparation, sale and distribution of arepas. From this space, Matria also takes the opportunity to highlight the history and contributions of women to our country and the world. In 2021, our executive director was appointed as a member of the PARE Committee, created by Governor Pedro Pierluisi to address the state of emergency due to gender-based violence in the country. In 2021 we also formalized our public policy program, transforming La Ruta de las Mujeres into a program with assigned personnel. The same thing happened with the Network for Public Education, which is part of the Mesa Social. Both projects are pioneers because they address human rights issues using strategies based in a feminist and human rights perspective. What makes us different from other service organizations or advocacy groups? Matria is nourished by the experience with participants, the in-depth study of inequalities and their causes and a strong commitment to human rights and the dignity of people. We are not subject to external pressure and we stand for our values from the certainty that our participants and the country need free and independent voices capable of making its own analysis and make innovative proposals. Of course, this ethical basis forces us to look for sources of funds that are in line with our values.