Martinez Street Women's Center

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Mission: The Martinez Street Women’s Center provides transformative community health services, youth development programs and advocacy opportunities that empower women and girls of color.

Vision: We envision a world where all women and girls are empowered to transform themselves, their families and their communities.

Values

Solidarity

• We have a deep respect for people inside and outside our organization and for the communities in which they live. 
• We are not afraid to have courageous, sometimes even painful conversations that may lead to the positive transformation of our organization of our community.
• We encourage and create opportunities for diverse communities to support each other and build community across identities.
• We fight for liberation, peace, equity, and love. We believe in the principles of In Lak’ Ech.
• We actively create a space where people of any race, ethnicity, class, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, accessibility needs, or country of origin feel welcomed, seen, and heard.

Creativity

• We are committed to engaging and inspiring people to have fun, think big, and do good in the world.
• We bolster the resilience of our community by creating platforms and programming that arise from the ingenuity, resourcefulness, and innovation of our community members, networks, partner organizations, and the MSWC team/board.
• We encourage each other and clients to think outside the box for solutions.
• We are not afraid to change course as more information becomes available.
• We embrace art, laughter, and fun while working toward a community goal of liberation.
• We support visionary approaches beyond accepted institutional conventions.
• We allow ourselves the freedom to shift thinking and processes for the strengthening of our team and community.

Empathy

• We maintain a culture of respect and dignity, openness and honesty.
• We are genuinely concerned about people’s needs.
• We find strength in vulnerability.
• We actively listen and are open to feedback and improvement.
• We lead with love.
• We provide excellent service with care and kindness.
• We value the humanity of all people.

Collaboration

• We support diverse ideas, strengths, interests and cultural backgrounds with the understanding that it takes a great many to succeed.
• We believe that collaborative and cooperative interaction builds consensus and produces meaningful outcomes.
• We work to create nurturing environments that promote healthy connections and foster growth and transformation among individuals, communities, and organizations.
• We learn from our mistakes and share our learning, so that others can learn from our internal transformation work.
• We support the development of each person.
• We believe in teamwork.