Love. Hope. Solidarity. CHANGE.
We save lives. We empower. We educate. We support relevant research. We aim for a Puerto Rico of equity.
Over the past 22 years, Matria has saved the lives of thousands of women throughout Puerto Rico. Our mission is to advance equity, peace, and the human development of the women of our country through economic development, housing, and empowerment services. That mission also embraces and includes people from LGBT communities and victims of natural disasters.
Our 24/7 Helpline Estamos para ti (We're here for you) is an escape door for women in situations of gender-based violence. Our phone number allows them to obtain emergency shelter services, housing, advocacy, legal representation, escape plans, safety plans, and a network of organizations ready to serve their needs. Our number has saved the lives of more than 7,000 women in the past five years and will surely save many more in the years to come.
Also, our 24/7 Helpline Amare LGBT is a telephone response program serving exclusively LGBT individuals in domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking situations. Our phone number allows them to obtain a lethality assessment, an escape plan, a personalized safety plan, and referrals to support services. From January to July 2026, our hotline handled approximately 240 calls, providing vital support to LGBT individuals experiencing violence and helping protect their safety and well-being.
Gaia, our housing program has offered transitional and permanent housing to more than 650 women and their families in the past 22 years. We work to guarantee a space for healing and recovery, and we have seen the results: empowered women, happy children, and the capacity to move from fear and despair to happiness.
Alquimia, our economic development and self-sufficiency program, formerly known as Libera, aims to provide support with job placement and guidance through the business incubation process. It seeks to promote equity, employment opportunities, and fair wages, while empowering women and LGBT individuals who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, or stalking. More than 30 individuals have participated in workshops on entrepreneurship, personal finance, and other topics, while five participants are currently in the process of developing their own microenterprises through our business incubation program.
La Ruta de las Mujeres (The Women's Route) completes our system of services and advocacy. Through this program, we work with advocacy strategies that encourage the development of public policies focused on the needs and human rights of women and LGBT people. We monitor government actions to detect opportunities and threats and communicate our findings to allied organizations that work on these issues. Also, from La Ruta, we work on the political empowerment of women in Puerto Rico through regional assemblies, in-person workshops, and digital content.
Our legal program, Astrea, incorporate Matria's service model to ensure access to justice for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment, and dating violence, starting at age 11. We serve women and LGBT+ individuals who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, or stalking in the Caguas Judicial Region. We offer legal representation for final hearings of protection orders under Law 54 and stalking cases, divorces, custody, parental rights, dating violence, and initial immigration guidance.
In 2017, Hurricane Maria forced us to work on disaster response and recovery issues. From there our Casa Solidaria Matria (Matria Solidarity House) project was born in the mountains of Miraflores community in Orocovis. Today, we can proudly say that we have become the mentors of a new community organization created by the people of Miraflores that will follow up on the work that we began in 2017 but from its knowledge and in full autonomy. After nearly nine years of working alongside and supporting the community, we are in the process of closing the program, recognizing that community leaders and other residents of Miraflores will continue building a future together and strengthening their community.
With your donation, you can help sustain our programs and, most importantly, contribute to creating more opportunities for women and LGBTQ+ individuals to build safer, more independent, and empowered futures, free from violence. Together, we build power!