In April of 2022, the Steelcase Foundation approved a three-year $90,000 grant ($30,000 annually) to Puertas Abiertas, a BIPOC and woman-founded nonprofit in Grand Rapids whose mission is to “empower Latina women to make healthy choices and live free from violence. The organization believes that Latina women deserve to live self-reliant, safe, and authentic lives, and provides strong tools and opportunities to help them achieve their unique goals.”

Executive director Andrea Inostroza, MS ATR, LLPC, founded Puertas Abiertas (PA), to support Latina women and their children experiencing and witnessing domestic violence following a rise in suicides and femicides in Kent County in 2019. Inostroza was working as a counselor at Southwest Community Campus at the time, and saw firsthand the impact domestic violence had on whole families in our community, especially children.

To provide healing support for families, PA offers 12 support groups, individual therapy sessions, and educational development services centered around mothers. Its staff and volunteers are members of the Latinx community, ensuring that programing is culturally affirming and builds trust among participants through shared experience.

Over the next three years, PA will seek to shore up its operational infrastructure and capacity, documenting its processes, enhancing its web presence, and developing procedures to collect participant and program data. We’re excited to support Puertas Abiertas in these efforts to ensure the organization can provide much needed support for Latina women and their children to ensure all families in our community can thrive.