Thriving Through Spring

It’s been an eventful month! We’ve really been thriving through exciting events, big announcements, and getting to know more of you during Thriving in the Fight: In Conversation Across the Country.

At Faith in Action, we officially launched our 50th anniversary campaign which will culminate in November with a beautiful celebration of our organization’s long legacy of work in support of all people, but specifically on issues of immigrant justice, mass incarceration, healthcare, gun violence and voting rights.

These are battles we are still fighting. As I am sure you have seen, our communities in Florida are under attack through the passage of extreme anti-immigrant and voter suppression laws recently signed by Governor DeSantis.

The leadership of Brown and Black women working together will be imperative in Florida and even more so now that DeSantis has announced his intention to run for president. While in Seattle, Washington earlier this month, I had the opportunity to speak to more than 500 emerging Latina leaders at the Simposio de Mujeres Latinas at North Seattle College. To the young women I met there and those reading this newsletter: I want to reiterate that we need you. The fight needs you. Your community needs you. I’m immensely grateful to the Somos Mujeres Latinas team for bringing such an incredible group together and I look forward to seeing you on the front lines.

I want to shout out another amazing woman I’m so honored to have the pleasure to know. My colleague, friend, and Thriving in the Fight Advisory Board Member, Heather Cabral was featured on Essence.com in an amazing op-ed about moms wanting balance for Mother’s Day. It is heartwarming to know how much the Family Work Integration program I spearheaded at Faith in Action to better support the Black and Brown women on our team has positively impacted Heather, her family and really, all of our colleagues.

Author: Denise Padín Collazo

Denise Padín Collazo is a social justice leader, a mentor to women of color, and a family work integrator. She is the author of Thriving in the Fight: A Survival Manual for Latinas on the Front Lines of Change (Berrett-Koehler, 2021.) Her work has been featured in the Miami Herald, Telemundo, Chronicle of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Quarterly. Twitter @DeniseThriving