DeKALB – De Mujer a Mujer, a student group based around support for Latina women attending NIU, is one of the newest official student organizations.

De Mujer a Mujer, Spanish for “from woman to woman,” was founded in 2002 as a program under the Latino Resource Center. The group officially gained student-recognized organization status following the group leader’s finalization of the transition process last spring, said Guzette Espinal, president of De Mujer a Mujer.

“The major difference is that now we have a lot more freedom regarding how we run the organization,” Espinal said.

Previously, when De Mujer a Mujer was classified only as a program, all funding came from the group’s parent department, the Latino Resource Center.

“Now that we’re a student organization, the Student Government Association gives us funding,” Espinal said. “Now we can also fundraise and get sponsorships from other departments. We’re just getting started, but we’re reaching out to other departments to help us with any speakers we want to bring out.”

Espinal said the transition to an official student organization has also allowed the group to greatly expand the kind of workshops it offers, like the self-defense workshop the group is hosting in November. Espinal said she believes it will be very popular with all NIU students.

Although status as a student organization means that the group is officially independent of the Latino Resource Center, Angelica Mendoza, faculty advisor for De Mujer a Mujer, said that it does not mean the end of the relationship between the two entities.

“As a student recognized organization, they’re still partnering up with the Latino Resource Center on certain events, and they’re hoping to continue that partnership with them,” Mendoza said. “It’s been a long time coming. I was with the Latino Resource Center for about 10 years, and the program had been around since before I arrived, so it’s been something that students had been interested in doing for some time.”

The group was originally founded to encourage Latina women to continue their college education at NIU after data revealed a significant number of them were not returning after their first year, Espinal said.

De Mujer a Mujer’s origins are still reflected in their current mission statement, which is to provide social, cultural and academic support that will increase the retention and graduation rates of Latinas and all women at NIU by providing programs, activities and leadership opportunities that foster self-confidence, self-awareness and self-esteem.

Although open to all, according to the group’s statement, the organization is primarily targeted at Latina women and meets Wednesdays at the Latino Resource Center.