Mission

The mission of the Brazilian Women’s Group is to promote political and cultural awareness, and contribute to the development of the Brazilian community, open to all interested women.

History

he Brazilian Women’s Group was created in 1995 by a group of women interested in discussing the issues of being an immigrant woman from Brazil in this country.
The Group is now composed of women of various ages and professions.
They have different roles in the community, such as grandmothers, mothers, housewives, house cleaners, waitresses, students, beauty consultants, baby sitters, educators and health professionals.
The Brazilian Women’s Group is located in Allston and receives structural support from the Somerville Partnership for Parents. Since the Group receives no financial aide, it survives by selling homemade goods such as food and books made by its members.

Our goals are

• Provide educational opportunities for Brazilian immigrant women to improve their work potential.
• Teach English as a Second Language so people can be productive in an

English- speaking environment, such as their neighborhood, work place, children’s school and church.

• Give emotional support to Brazilian families, not only to newcomers, but also to the ones settled in the Greater Boston.
• Inform the community about social, political and cultural events.
• Provide leadership so the community can solve its own problems.
• Organize cultural events to get families together. 

The Group also thinks it is extremely important the political organization of the Brazilian community sees women as leaders in this process.
The Brazilian Women’s Group realizes that it is the women who are given more responsibilities. Besides raising and educating her children, she also has the responsibility to assimilate into the new culture and society in which her family is now living. Along with these tasks, she must also provide financial support to the family.

We believe our strengths are

• Participate actively in events that value the respect for cultural differences.
• Support the work of agencies who represent and work for the community.
• Participate in events that support immigrants’ rights.
• Work against all kinds of discrimination, prejudice, humiliation and disrespect towards our community, our culture and our language.

Our main activities are

1. Offering ESL Classes for levels 1 and 2.
2. Workshops concerning issues such as: domestic violence (with the Somerville Women’s Commission and the Police Department), immigration laws and immigrant’s rights (MIRA, Brazilian Immigrant Center, Lawyer’s Guild), bilingual education (educators from Somerville, Boston and the Framingham Public Schools), health and safety (Cambridge Health Alliance, St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Maps).
3. All the workshops are conducted in Portuguese and if necessary we provide interpreters.
4. Cultural events: International Women’s Day and The Brazilian Independence Day, Sessão Popcorn (film screening).