Comadres History
The National Comadres Network is a group of committed Chicana/Latinx community leaders who have come together to create healing spaces for women and girls that embrace intergenerational, culturally rooted, indigenous based healing practices and leadership development. The leadership development component focuses on a philosophy of healing self and healing others as a way to restore communities with wholeness and health.  The other component of the healing work is that it be led and designed by women of color, women of indigenous descent and queer women of color.
Supported by the National Compadres Network, ten women from across the nation, initially invited by Maestro Jerry, formed this group and committed to facilitating the healing and well-being of women and girls through healing CĂrculos and retreats. In 2019, the Comadres formalized their role as the Advisory Committee of the National Comadres Network.
The Vision and Mission
The vision of the National Comadres Network is to: 1) restore individuals and communities with trust, love, dignity and respect; and, 2) transform systems and institutions to achieve equitable opportunities and outcomes for girls and women of color.
The mission of the National Comadres Network is to nurture healing informed leadership among women through culturally-rooted practices and networks of mutual support.
Healing for Systems Transformation
Healing Self, Healing Communities and Transforming Systems
The inextricable link between health of an individual and health of community is undeniable. The focus on healing self in order to heal community is what centers the overall strategy for addressing systemic racism and other forms of persistent oppression that harm communities of color and indigenous communities. The work of the National Comadres Network is to achieve systems transformation by building the capacity of community leaders and organizers to promote healing and restoration, given what we know and understand of the interconnectedness of individuals and systems. Systems change cannot happen if the leaders advocating for change are not working to healing themselves.Â
Values
The Values guiding the work of the Comadres are:
CONFIANZAÂ - Moving from the center/the home and then outward, with a secure foundation. Trusting the process and honoring pace of the medicine.
CONECCIÓN - Being guided by la Madre Tierra to come from a place of integrity, rooted in the sacredness of our ancestors’ teachings.
COMUNIDADÂ - Working intergenerationally, expanding our ability to see the whole and expanding the web of healing relationships.
CONCIENCIAÂ - Centering an indigenous-based healing-informed practice rooted in antiracist/anti-oppression lens to decolonize our worldviews and ways of being.
Advisory Committee Members
Susie Armijo
Debra Camarillo
Patricia Cardenas
Alicia Chavez-Arteaga
Valerie Garcia
Rosa González
Lauren Padilla-Valverde
Ysenia Sepulveda
Laura Tinajero
Susy Zepeda
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