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 believe that our liberation is bound up with one another.
- List We believe that our liberation is bound up with one another.
- We strive for liberation, peace, equity, and love.
- We respect people inside and outside our organization and the communities in which we live and serve.
- We actively create a space that values intersectionality; where all people of any race, ethnicity, class, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, accessibility needs, or country of origin feel welcomed, seen, supported, heard and respected.
- We encourage each other and clients to explore and practice visionary approaches beyond accepted institutional conventions and historical or present realities. We allow ourselves the freedom to shift thinking and processes in order to strengthen our organization and community.
- We embrace art, laughter, and fun in our work. We create platforms and programming that arise from the ingenuity and innovation of our community members, networks, partner organizations, and the EHSA team.
Creativity
Empathy
- We value the humanity of all people. We lead with integrity, openness and honesty.
- We are genuinely concerned about our community's needs and serve with respect, care and kindness. We find strength in vulnerability.
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We support diverse ideas, strengths, interests and cultural backgrounds with the understanding that it takes teamwork to succeed.
- We grow from our successes and missteps, sharing our lessons so that others can learn from our work.
- We create nurturing environments that promote healthy connections and foster growth and transformation amongst individuals, communities, and organizations
- We are not afraid to have courageous, even painful conversations and believe that cooperative interaction builds consensus and produces meaningful outcomes.
