About
Who We are
Empower House (formerly Martinez Street Women’s Center) was founded in 1999 with a mission to improve reproductive health services and access for women — primarily brown and Black women — on the East Side of San Antonio.
Since then, the nonprofit has expanded to provide community health services and education, advocacy opportunities, and youth programming – all through the lens of restorative justice.
The nonprofit has also grown to include two locations on the East and West Sides of San Antonio, creating a closer connection to the communities they serve.
Today, Empower House welcomes girls and women, as well as trans, femme, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming individuals, and boys in search of connection, healing, and equity. The neighborhoods may have changed, but Empower House is still here.
To date, Empower House programming has served thousands of individuals in San Antonio and impacted future generations of families.
Our
Mission
Empower House provides transformative community health services, youth development programs and advocacy opportunities that empower women and girls of color.
We envision a world where all women and girls are empowered to transform themselves, their families and their communities.
Our
Vision
Values
Commitment
Our work in the community is guided by our values. They inform our major programmatic decisions as well as our daily interactions with community members.
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.
- 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 Empower House 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.
Creativity
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.
- 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.
