OUR STORY

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Taller Salud is a community based feminist organization dedicated to improving women’s access to health care, to reducing violence within the community and to encourage economic growth through education and activism. Founded in 1979, Taller Salud is an independent, non-government based, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.

 

 

Health is…
We believe that health is a non-negotiable human right. We define health as a state of balance that every person establishes within him/herself and his/her environment. In this sense, we recognize the importance of a comprehensive health care that considers physical, emotional and spiritual aspects, nonetheless we also advocate for environmental health, the guarantee of a violence free life and the development of prosperous communities that offer opportunities and resources for all.

We recognize that when women prosper, their communities become stronger. And this is why we are convinced that the well being of the people begins with their women’s health.

 

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OUR VISION

 

An inclusive society with organized communities free from oppression that exercise their right to integral health and a dignified life and promote their collective and sustainable development.
 

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OUR MISSION

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To elevate women’s leadership in order to co-create well-being, integral health, and opportunities for individual and collective development.

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OUR VALUES

 

At Taller Salud we live these values ​​in the design of our work and in our daily work, under the firm conviction that they are essential for the social development of Puerto Rico and to reaffirm a new notion of what well-being is.

 

Feminism. We are a feminist organization, and we employ gender perspective approaches in all our work. We work for equity to collectively achieve a more just, caring, and free society.

Health as a human right. We firmly believe that all people have the right to enjoy comprehensive health and a life free from violence. We defend public health approaches centered on people and communities and aimed towards a dignified life.

Comprehensive health. From a culturally appropriate and trauma-informed community practice, we recognize integral health as a state of balance between physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, and social factors that allows the full development of people. We center  the social determinants of health in all our work for the eradication of health inequalities.

Celebration of equity and diversity. We understand that all people should have equal opportunities and guarantees of their human rights. We focus and center Afro-descendant communities and all gender-diverse identities. We embrace and defend diversity.

Culture of justice and peace. From an anti-racist political practice, we affirm restorative justice, racial equity and community reconciliation as essential elements of the emancipation of our people.

Autonomy. We recognize as essential and democratic the right of each person to make informed decisions about their body, life, and well-being.


Participation. We believe in the right of all people to participate in the processes that concern and affect them. We believe in the organized participation of communities to achieve collective power and changes in public policy.
8. Secularism. Our organization does not have any religious affiliations. We defend the secular state and the separation of Church and State.
 
Sustainability. Our commitment is with community economic development from a sustainable perspective, in harmony with the conservation and protection of our natural resources.

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HISTORY

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Taller Salud was founded in 1979 by Carmen Guzmán and Eugenia Acuña, as an initiative of these two feminists who arrived to the island after working in New York against practices of massive sterilization of Latin-American women, with a considerable majority of Puerto Rican women. Their mission was to get organized and active in the community in order to guarantee and provide access to abortions and birth control methods, as an alternative to the growing massive sterilization of women of low resources in the island. And it was at this moment that the first feminist organization focused on women’s health in Puerto Rico was born. During 1980 and 1981,Taller Salud received the support of fellow comrades from the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective who also became the mentors and supporters of the organization’s first campaigns. 

 

 

Health as empowerment

 

In 1980, the Federation of Health Clinics for Women, from San Francisco, California came to visit the island and connected with Taller Salud in order to help the issue that was affecting the women of Puerto Rico. It was from this point on that Taller Salud began training the women in the island to perform breast and vaginal self-examination as part of their empowerment strategy.

 

“From the very beginning we incorporated health as a feminist tool, from which we worked so that women could be considered as beings and not as objects of an insufficient health system,” according to Nirvana González Rosa, one of Taller Salud’s first team members.

 

Taller Salud was a group that developed education and mobilization projects with exclusively voluntary work until 1989. That same year, while participating in the outlining of “Law 54” for domestic violence, Margaret Wochinger Figueroa, one of Taller Salud’s members, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her death in 1991 sparked a reflection process within the group: Did it make sense at all to advocate for people’s health while not taking care of our own? This led the group to a deep process of internal reflection that ended in the transformation of the collectivity into an organization capable of receiving funds.

 

In 1992, thanks to a sponsorship of Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico, Taller Salud started a breast cancer prevention project in honor of Margie. Also in 1989, the hardness with which Hurricane Hugo hit the northeast coast of Puerto Rico, led them to start work in Piñones, Loíza, a decision that finally reoriented the organization's management, which until then had made Río Piedras (San Juan) his home.

Almost forty years later, our capacity for reinvention continues vibrant as we watch our participants become resources for themselves, their families and their communities.