Herstory

The Dominican Women’s Development Center was founded in 1988 by a group of Dominican women who identified the need to create an organization in the Washington Heights/Inwood community that would help organize Dominican and other Latina women. The purpose of the organization was to seek solutions to the problems affecting us in our daily lives and to provide culturally competent social services and to empower women and families to become agents of change in their community.

Among the nine voluntary co-founders of the Center were Mireya Cruz, Rosita Romero, Rosa Lavergne, Marisol Franchesca Castellanos, Johanny Castellanos, Amalia Peña, Nereida Peña, Yolanda Gonell, and Ramona Andujar.  This newly constituted board of directors started having monthly meetings at Broadway Temple, a Methodist church in the community, at no cost.  After three months  of brainstorming, base-building, and bargaining, the foundational documents were complete (these included the organization’s logo, brochure, and by laws). They espoused a vision of community action and development programming that was comprehensive, holistic, and designed to activate distressed community residents to become agents of change to their own lives. On October 6,1988, we held an open meeting to launch the organization to the public and get the community’s approval of our programs and mission.  There were 30 women who participated in this meeting.  We passed around a hat and each one of them contributed a dollar; thus with a budget of $30 in the cashbox, the Dominican Women’s Development Center was born.

Originally the Center started as a membership organization with monthly due paying members of $5 for working women and $3 for students and public assistant recipients.  Monthly membership meetings were held to plan educational conferences, workshops, cultural events, family gatherings, and fundraising events.  In 2001 we decided to drop the membership organization status since the membership model was no longer relevant or applicable to the current state of the organization.

The first three programs in the organization were the Educational Development Program, the Personal Development Program, and the Economic Development Program.  On September, 1989 the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union assigned paid teachers to the Center to start providing Spanish Literacy, and three levels of ESL classes twice a week; thus, services to community women started being offered.  Child Care was provided in a separate classroom while the women attended classes; and to this date it is.  Once again Broadway Temple provided the space at no cost to hold the classes.  In the meantime, our board member Mireya Cruz provided counseling and personal development strategies to some students and other women during class hours.

Two other board members, Rosita Romero and Rosa Lavergne started writing proposals.  The first grant that we received, in the amount of $25,000, was from the National Self-Development of People’s Fund; a Kentucky based foundation of the US Presbyterian Church.  Our second grant, in the amount of $15,000, was from The New York Women’s Foundation.  We are eternally grateful to these two foundations.  They provided the initial funds to rent a space, hire a part-time administrative staff and pay the educational instructors.  Three years later, with a grant from the New York Foundation, we were able to have to hire Ms. Rosita M. Romero as its first Executive Director. 

It was at this point when Fior Cruz, may she rest in peace, joined the board of directors to occupy the seat vacated by Rosita Romero on the board.  Fior Cruz made great contributions to the organization because of the passion and integrity with which she led her life fighting against racism, sexism, and for social justice.  Former board members who made important contributions to the organization are listed under the board of directors section.

The Economic Development Program took off in 1991 with a grant from the Department of Social Services to provide Clerical Skills Training and Job Placement.  It also included cake baking classes and arts & crafts created by the women as a form of micro-business to supplement their household income.  This program was headed by former community leader Rosalba Polanco, may she rest in peace.

From its humble beginnings, the DWDC the Center has become a full fledged multi-service organization providing services and programs in the areas mentioned above plus in the areas of anti-domestic violence, prevention of child abuse and neglect, prevention of foster care placement, health promotion, and youth leadership development.  Our latest program addition in 2010 is The Mama Tingo Early Childhood Education Center, a comprehensive, high quality, early childhood program that addresses the needs of  pregnant women, infants and toddlers (ages 0-3) and their families in the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods in Manhattan. 
  
However, what continues to give validity to the organization has been its board members, staff, and program participants’ strong presence in the community advocating for child care services for women, domestic violence services, jobs, training programs, affordable housing, reproductive rights, and immigrants rights.  We have also participated in many marches and demonstrations against drugs, wars, and police brutality; and participated as panelists and speakers on conferences, workshops, and media events in newspapers, radio, and T.V. programs.  The Center has also raised its voice of solidarity after the occurrence of many natural catastrophes.

In the year 2000 we added the Gender Unit under the Educational Development Program to more formally incorporate discussions and aspects of gender equality within all of our programs.  In the year 2003, under the same program we created the Dominican Women Writers’ Book Fair to promote reading as a form of literature and cultural development for women and to promote the increase of Dominican women writers. 

In 2003 the DWDC contributed to the creation of El Centro de la Mujer Dominicana in Puerto Rico and the creation of El Centro de Apoyo a la Mujer in the Dominican Republic in 2004.  Other type of international presence has been established by participating in the Latin American and Caribben Feminist Women Encounters in Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Mexico; in the Women’s World Forum held in Beijing in 1995 and in solidarity efforts with the children of Haina through the Lead Safe Children’s Committee.

Despite its amazing growth in the past 23 years, DWDC has been hit hard by the economic recession and the governmental budget cuts.  As of June 30 our Families in Action and Rising Families General Preventive Programs, both providing prevention of child abuse and neglect and prevention of foster care placement will no longer exist. DWDC is working hard educating elected officials about impact this budget cuts have in the lives of our participants and staff members and joining with other community efforts in rallies, demonstrations, and community forums to protest these cuts.