Mercedes Parra Foundation

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Mercedes Parra Foundation

Empowering women and promoting sustainable development! MPF’s work targets five dimensions of female empowerment and opportunity:

1. Economic participation
2.

The Mercedes Parra Foundation (MPF), named in the honor of Mercedes Maria Parra Forbes, was established in 2010. The foundation provides programs and services aimed at ensuring gender equity by promoting sustainable economic and social development through training, consultancy, and direct support of individual women, groups and organizations. Economic opportunity
3. Political empowerment
4. Educat

ional attainment
5. Health and well-being

The foundation has three major initiatives:

1. Agrofem, supporting female agriculturalists in developing countries to transition from subsistence to market-oriented farming by providing grants and interest-free loans, capacity building, and technical assistance;

2. The Micro Grant Program which awards small grants to help support the humanitarian efforts of women

3. Operation Santa Clau, providing clothes, books, and toys to families in need on the Island of San Andres, Colombia

Get Involved:

We are always looking for volunteers to help out with our various initiative and many volunteer needs can be done remotely! If you would like to learn more about volunteering with our organization, contact [email protected] or visit us on VolunteerMatch.org! Who We Are:

Mercedes Diane Griffin Forbes,
Founder & Executive Director

Douglas Synder, President

Adwoa Aidoo, Vice-President

Julius Powel, Treasurer

Claudin Rountree, Member-at-Large

Mahmoud Hassan, Country Liaison Officer - Egypt

Willot Joseph, Country Liaison Officer - Haiti

Nancy Muthee, Country Liaison Officer - Kenya

Loretta Bent, Country Liaison Officer - Colombia

Collins Dankwa, Country Liaison Officer - Ghana

Alfousini Sidibe, Country Liaison Officer - Mali

12/09/2020

"It is estimated that of the 87,000 women who were intentionally killed in 2017 globally, more than half (50,000- 58 per cent) were killed by intimate partners or family members, meaning that 137 women across the world are killed by a member of their own family every day. More than a third (30,000) of the women intentionally killed in 2017 were killed by their current or former intimate partner."
- UN Women

12/07/2020

Did you know?
Seraph Young Ford was the first American woman to vote under a law that made the voting rights of women citizens equal to men's. She voted in the Salt Lake City's municipal election on February 14, 1870, becoming the first woman in Utah and the United States of America to vote under a women's equal suffrage law.

12/02/2020

An excerpt from a Baylor Lariat blog article:

“I have a job interview tomorrow, how should I wear my hair?”

I have met so many Black women who contemplate this question before an interview, business meeting or when starting something new. I personally wonder, “Why is it so hard to accept a woman who wants to wear her hair natural? What makes her stand out compared to someone with straight hair?”

Is it the texture? The fullness? The length?

It is hard for women to embrace themselves in a world that defines beauty without representing them. The stares a Black woman gets when she wears her big hair or the comments such as, “can I touch your hair?” are very uncomfortable. Why is natural hair not a normal thing? Why is it such a big deal? It should be normal to see a woman with natural hair or straight hair. A woman should be able to wear her hair how she chooses without the fear of discrimination.

When I was growing up, it was rare to see Black women in high positions with natural hairstyles. It was also nearly impossible to see a black woman on national television with an afro or braids. These types of styles were called things such as, “nappy” and “unprofessional.” Straight hair was the norm, and anything different was not accepted. There is now a new movement supporting making Black styles professional in the workplace, and I am here for it. It has been long overdue. It is inspiring for me as a Black woman with natural hair seeing women respected without the focus on their hairstyle. The texture of a person’s hair does not determine their work ethic, their character or their heart.

11/30/2020

"A park in Linn County will be going by a new name, honoring a Native American Woman.
The park will now be named after Jean Adeline Morgan Wanatee, who was born on the Meskwaki Settlement in Tama in 1910 and passed away in 1996. She was an advocate for Native American and women's rights and was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1993."
- KWWL

11/25/2020

The Sociology-Psychology Building on the West Campus of Duke University will now be known as the Reuben-Cooke building. It's named after Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke, one of the university's first Black undergraduates.

11/23/2020

Black women are underrepresented in clinical trials that require consent and are overrepresented in studies that do not, according to a study published in the Health Affairs.

11/18/2020

Maternal mortality and injury rates are higher for Black females, irrespective of income or education level.

According to the Black Women's Health Imperative, Black women are 3–4 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than White women. Black women are also 3–4 times more likely to suffer from a severe disability resulting from childbirth than White women.

11/16/2020

Anita Hill explained that there’s a reason that Black women are overlooked as Supreme Court nominees - “People pick people who look like them”.

11/11/2020

The Vassar College women's soccer team has been honored by the United Soccer Coaches with its Team Academic Award for the 2019-20 academic year.
Vassar's team GPA was 3.70 for the 2019-20 season.

11/09/2020

"In Louisiana, 700,000 Black women are eligible to vote. There are 500,000 registered, but only 157,000 actually vote.
An organization called 'Citizen She,' founded by attorney and activist Nia Weeks, is hoping to increase that number to 300,000 this November."
- WDSU News

11/04/2020

PFD Battalion Chief Lisa Forrest 🤩
She is the Philadelphia Fire Department's first Black woman battalion chief after one hundred and forty-nine years.

11/02/2020

Data from AnitaB.org shows that if numbers continue to increase at the current pace, it could take 12 years before women see equal representation in tech.

Address

Washington D.C., DC

Telephone

+12026566157

Website

http://parrafoundation.org/

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