Hundreds of community leaders gathered in the city of Riverside, CA  for a promotoras conference to learn and share in 1998. Most were volunteers. All were women. At that time, and beyond that conference, few people knew about the resourcefulness of the community of leaders known as promotoras. The conference ended with a collective commitment to continue to meet, encouraged by the need to amplify our work.

Volunteer regional coordinators formed circles of support in five key regions across California, listening and learning in a formative process. Committed allies opened their hearts and welcomed promotoras into their households so La Red could meet, share learnings and organize. Volunteers shared a cafecito, traveling from place to place from dawn to late into the night. Everyone worked to fulfill a commitment to each other and to the new promotora movement. 

As a result, in 2000, La Red de Promotoras y Trabajadoras Comunitarias (Network of Promotoras and Community Health Workers) was established. Our first conference celebrated the formation of La Red, and the beginning of a movement and the creation of the nonprofit organization, Visión y Compromiso.

Today, La Red is represented in most counties in California, bringing together promotoras and promotores who establish local priorities, advocate for community change, train more leaders, and support promotoras through key leadership opportunities. Our work proves that social change does not come from a grant; it is only through our personal commitment—to each other and our dreams—that we foster change.

Hacia una vida digna y sana, towards a healthy and dignified life, reflects our holistic point of view. Our social change model centers on the “heart of the promotora” who, through individual transformation, creates change in her family and community. It was true then and it is true now.

¡Adelante!