Brissa Del Mar believes it is time to break the cycle of lack of confidence, which leads young women to remain silent and not use their voice. This is often seen with young women of color; Latinas in particular.
Brissa elaborated on her personal thoughts. “For me, the FUERTE program reflects the work of my passion, which is supporting young women of color so they can be strong and influential. FUERTE demonstrates how and why it is crucial to put our time, energy, and dollars to invest in this generation. Moreover, we need to empower young women of color in each of our circles of influences.”
The FUERTE Program began as a trial balloon, to see if this target audience needed professional development beyond college. Luz Canino-Baker found out right away that although these young women of color may have a college degree, they still lacked clarity and direction as to how to enter a career and how to deliberately navigate the workplace. One main reason for the gap was the lack of mentors, coaches and overall access to women in their lives. They needed to see women who have career paths, those that could support, but also challenge them. It was important to have someone to teach women how to navigate the politics and unspoken rules and provide reasons why their voices should be heard.
Luz iterates... “The FUERTE Program gives young women a weekly boost in her confidence. We see it. A woman begins to believe that she can achieve her written goals, and she learns that other young women have mutuality in feelings and life experiences. By being with other like-minded women she begins to believe that she can carve a pathway for her life and actually approach it with vigor and intentionality. She becomes visible and we see it.”
Latinas On The Plaza, now has a permanent location in Brookfield, IL. “Having our own location will afford us the opportunity to provide monthly workshops and expand our reach in the communities we serve. We see a place where proximity will open new doors for us and it will be a place where our students can come and even host the FUERTE program to continue to grow, `` says Luz.
Brissa and Luz, proud Latinas themselves, hope to inspire, connect, and empower other young women of color towards action that allows them to see themselves as Strong and Powerful. They want others to know why programs like the FUERTE program exist and why they need your support.
Luz Canino-Baker has also launched a summer program for young girls ages 4-6, called Little Arrows- From Princess to Warrior. She says, “Believe me, it was not my intention to introduce another program, but with all the bullying and the sexual abuse we hear about every day, it became imperative to do something.” Luz believes that we need to start teaching our girls how to be strong early before they start school. “We will teach her the three S’s - smart, safety, strong.”
To learn how to support the FUERTE (STRONG) program visit www.latinasontheplaza.org and to read about each young woman’s transformation during their photography campaign go to breezeartphotography.com.