Working at a local clinic Maria would often hear stories of women who were victimized when crossing the border, and ended up pregnant. “They were afraid to go to the hospital because they didn’t have any money, and they didn’t know the language; they did not have insurance. [They] were afraid of being asked too many questions, and the people who raped them, who crossed with them, were generally people they knew.”
This is when Maria saw the need for a place where such women and their children would receive the much-needed healthcare and basic education, and also, be able talk openly
about what had happened
to them.“
That's what inspired me:
the women's stories,” says she.
The mission of what came to be called the Mary’s Center is very much rooted in family values and community support, and stands as a bedrock of the Latino-dominated Adams Morgan/Columbia Heights/Mt. Pleasant neighborhood in Washington, DC.
One of the most important services offered at Mary’s Center is the opportunity for adults to reach
their education and career goals. This builds on the idea that access to education not only allows families to move upward economically, but also serves as an inspiration to the next generation.“
Every day here as I walk in the doors, to know that after 26 years there are kids that have gone to college , and that have come back, and become mentors now of the younger kids,” says Maria, beaming.
Talking about the Center, Maria’s thoughts turn yet again to her mother. “We were able to change the paradigm from what my mom was, to who I was economically and educationally. It didn’t even take one generation; it took the same generation, same time period for us to change that trajectory.”
But the Center is not exclusive to the needs of the Hispanic community. In just two-and-a-half decades Mary’s Center grew to serve 40,000 people coming from 110 countries; it is now operating from four medical locations, with an annual budget of $39 million.Today Maria is a recognized leader of her community.
In 2012 she was selected by the White House as one of the 18 recipients of the 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian honor.
Inspiration lives inside Mary’s Center. And it’s not just the service recipients, but the staff that exude it.
Giving somebody a job, and watching them blossom at it, and then having them come back with ideas about how to grow it: “that is inspirational,” says she.“
Mary’s Center was really created by the many voices, and many ideas of people who have worked here, and walked in the doors to get services.”
Although her mother was at first concerned about exposure, but felt proud of what her daughter was doing for the people and the community.
“I always told stories to her and she would say, ‘Go for it, do what you have to do.’”
From Mother to Daughter
Maria Gomez has another source of pride in her life: her daughter.
“She just turn 18, and she has no interest whatsoever in boys right now, she’s just like her grandmother.”
The Death of Self
Maria remembers her mother as a very religious woman, though not a fanatic. She was also someone who really “lived” her faith through service to others.
“I remember her saying, ‘Tonight we’re gonna have this small dinner, because I gotta give so and so, this neighbor, money because her child is sick, and she can’t buy her the medication, or give this money, because this child doesn’t have a winter coat.’”
Maria has a theory about what prompted this sense of compassion and commiseration in her mother. “It really occurs when the death of self occurs, so it sound like for [mother] it had occurred through the stories: one, losing her husband, two, being pregnant [and] having to manage, and three going to a new country and having to manage it. All three important transitions.”
Knowing Yourself
As a teenager Maria attended the Western High School, which is when she became conscious of her separate identity. She thought she mixed well with Caucasians and African American students, but found herself at crossroads with other Hispanics.
“[I was] one of the few Hispanics that were there. And then the ones that were there were Puerto Ricans, which were very different. I really didn’t really relate too well with Puerto Ricans,” says she. “It's a very different culture in many ways. They're very open. Colombians are much more reserved and very proper. It's always, ‘Yes ma'am, and no ma'am.” To Puerto Ricans, it’s like, ‘What is happening?’”
And yet her mother reinforced Maria’s strong sense of identity, reminding her never to forget her
culture, her Spanish, her religion, and her family. Maria recalls painstakingly practicing Spanish by writing letters to her family in Colombia.
Her longing for self-discovery grew, as Maria graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and started working at the DC Department of Health. She soon realized how much she still had to learn about herself, her values, and the city where she was living in. To find that out for herself, however, meant that Maria would leave behind her mother’s home in Washington, DC, and travel to the West to pursue a Master’s in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley.
“I remember the first time I got there and I said to ‘Chicano’ person, ‘How does it feel to be Mexican?’ Oh my God, I thought it was going to have my head chopped off,” laughs Maria. “They pulled me aside, and told me about the Chicano culture. They're Americans, I think, that there was a whole different culture I had to learn.”
This was also the time Maria realized that she had never taken the time to really identify who she was. Back in Washington, DC, she would find her calling.
Mary’s Center – Where Inspiration Resides
The 80s brought an influx of immigrants from Central America to the Nation’s Capital.
Inspiration Lives
Inside maRy's CENTER
"Mary's Center was really created by the many voices, and many ideas of people who have worked here, and walked in the doors to get services."
From Inspireation to ACTION