SUMMER MESSAGE to our Friends and Family,

Summer 2011 Index

Page 1. Welcome/ SUMMER Message from the Collective! Page 2. Casa Wish list Endorse/Sponsor Page 3. CASA Introduces Carmen Mojica Program Director Page 4. special Message from Manuela Page 5 Simon Bolivar Foundation Funds CASA!

Special Thanks to Carmen Mojica, Ingrid Romero, Retumba, Jessica Valoris, The Legacy Circle, Manuela Arciniegas for being courageous, powerful and using Casa to manifest their creative spirits. We invite you to join our Womyn of Color Healing Arts Collective , for more information contact Ingrid @ 347-546-7720/email iiromero91@gmail.com. Sharon Ufberg for her supporting story CASA published on Women E News - http://www.womensenews.org/story/health/110510/lets-hold-out-hope-young-women-in-south-bronx The young women of Casa and the Women of the South Bronx Community for doing a feature story about CASA on Bronx News 12 -www.news12.com http://
www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=282491&position=1&news_type=news

To Sojourner McCauley, Monique Kiera and Monique de la Oz Board Members of CASA for being passionate and standing for their commitment to heal and empower young women.

THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO SUPPORT CASA AND YOUR INVITED!

1. We are looking for powerful, courageous, fearless womyn/gender non-conforming people of color to support us in creating an environmentally friendly healing and political space where transformation happens through the spirit to volunteer , intern or join our board today! Are you a healer, artist, organizer? We are rebuilding Casa and need support with providing workshops, painting a young womyns mural, affirmations and healing symbols. In addition we are reworking the space to be environmentally friendly and looking for folks who do carpentry. Let us know if you are willing to donate a few hours to end violence against womyn and creating safe space. Make a donation today @ Casa Atabex Ache.org, site . Your financial support makes this work possible. Please join our facebook page to get up to date information and follow us on our NEW Twitter page..http://twitter.com/casaatabexache For more information email us at casaatabexache@aol.com or call the leadership collective at 718-585-5540.

Summer Affirmations
I am willing to release all fears, worries and concerns about money, my career, safety, and protection.

2.

I am willing to release all my fears and struggles that have to do with power and control. I fully step into my power now. It is safe for me to be powerful and I accept my Goddess-given power to be used in the service of love and light.

3.

4.

CASA Mission Statement

Casa has rich legacy of supporting womyn of color heal from internalized oppression by reconnecting with their individual and collective powers of healing and action so they may transform their lives, families and communities. Utilizing a self-healing and social justice model, Casas mission is to support womyn to identify the emotional, spiritual, physical and mental impact that their experiences of abuse ,neglect, oppression (sexism, homophobia, classism, racism and xenophobia, trans-phobia), violence and poverty has on their reproductive and mental health.

Supply/ Wish List Fall 2011

Dear Supporter, It is my pleasure to submit this letter of support on behalf of Casa Atabex Ache/House of Womyns' Power located in New York Citys Mott Haven community. We would like to invite you to sponsor/endorse our Cultural Arts Empowerment & Leadership Afterschool program for young women ages 10-18. Casa is located in the South Bronx, the poorest congressional district of NYS and has been recently been ranked the un healthiest of New York 62 counties; leaving young women vulnerable to obesity (eating disorders), child sexual abuse, drugs, illiteracy domestic violence and HIV/AIDS. The economic crisis has also left this already under resourced community with no after school or recreational programming, overcrowded schools with no support, no library and safe spaces for young women to find their voice, self esteem and be the powerful leaders they can be. We are asking for you to not only donate but build a sustainable relationship with us and sponsor our program this year, ensuring the survival and power of young women. Sponsorship/Endorse by: Making a monetary donation, Provide gift certificates, goody bag items, promotional goods to support the creation of our space. Donate concrete supplies from our supply list please see list. How will you benefit? By sponsoring our program we will advertise your companies , organizations name on our flyers, programs and website, verbal recognition and special thanks given at our events, promotion of your products at any future events, and distribution of your flyers can be arranged if it's of interest to your company. We invite you to also make a taxable donation online at www.casaatabeache.org. Your sponsorship will make a difference! Support Casas Cultural Arts Empowerment & Leadership Afterschool program for young women ages 10-18. this FALL, In September we will be bringing in 20 new young women to go through our program, they will learn how to drum, dance, sing and use social media as a tool for self empowerment as they build their self esteem. We need your support to create a safe and green environment where these young women will have access to quality sex education and resources to take care of themselves from the mental and physical trauma they experience as a result of neglect and poverty. We will also provide alternative healthcare, nutrition and healthy meal preparation. In addition, we will provide peer support group to break the silence & address issues of anger, fear & self hate & other issues affecting young womyn with the aim of developing individual and group action strategies to address the health needs and social issues young women are confronting.

Yoga Mats Throw pillows to sit on the floor every size body pillows Back Jack chairs Bean bags Slippers to walk inside the healing space Water fountains Winds chimes Healing stones, crystals Stress relief products (worry beads, stress balls, things to throw, massage balls , punching bags, pressure point socks , or gloves, etc) natural cleaning products, for bathroom, kitchen and office space (peppermint soap, lavender soap) office supplies, printing paper, chart paper, markers Plants Healing oils all natural for aromatherapy Healing music-meditation, drums Florida water/rose water Candles in every color Incense/nag champa, charcoal, matches, sage Fabrics for altars (yellow, red, orange, purple, silver, blue, black, pink , green) massage equipments, stress balls, self healing tools (do it on your own) Self esteem products (salt scrubs etc) Natural toilet tissue, tampons, kotex ) Herbs to make food Teas for every issue (stress, cold anxiety, reproductive health etc) Affirmations for walls Vitamins Get certificates to spas in NYC to sponsor a trip for abuse victims, young women Movie tickets Barnes and Noble gift cards for self healing books

CASA WELCOMES! Carmen Mojica to our Staff!

Its interesting. For the last 3 years, I have wanted nothing more than to work with women to empower us collectively. Yet it is only within the last year that I have begun to learn what it means to step into my power. It reminds me of Marianne Williamsons quote: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Carmen Mojica is an AfroDominican woman born and raised in the Bronx. She is a poet, writer, workshop facilitator, model and birth doula. She has graced the stages with her poetry, presentations on Afro-Latina Identity of the Nuyorican Poets Caf, the Bowery Poetry Caf and The Brecht and universities. She is the Founder of These Waters Run Deep, a multimedia project which blends passion for life with words, visual arts, music , dance to celebrate the joy of creation towards the empowerment of women and people of the African Diaspora. In October 2009, she completed and self-published her literary work called Hija De Mi Madre (My Mothers Daughter), a combination of memoirs, poems and research material explainingthe effects of race on identity and also shares her life as a living example. In July 2012, Carmen release her second book, Odas de La Mujer de Miel, her first collection of poetry in Spanish . To be empowered means to believe in yourself. It means accepting your strengths and weaknesses. It means being yourself. All of those things are scary in a world that encourages us to be severely critical and self-loathing. On this healing path from self-hatred to self-love, I have been blessed to be supported by equally powerful women who have provided a mirror that reflects all I am and am not. It is out of their guidance and my own desire to help all women heal that understanding empowerment has started to make sense. It is my hope that working in Casa Atabex Ache, a place that encourages healing journeys for women of color, that I will continue to do this important work.

CASA Presents CARMEN in her workshop NOTE TO SELF Save the Date : August 14th, 2011 12pm-4pm
It is so easy to lose ones sense of self in this world. With all the pressures and demands put on us by work, friends, family and society, there is often little time available to reflect. To reflect on who weve been, who we are and who we wish to become. To check in with ourselves about where we are shifting and what is still not budging. Note to Self is the pause button on the fast track of our lives. A workshop that is a time of self-evaluation for the individual. We explore what is going on in the current unfolding of ones life, what direction they wish to move their life in and where they stand with themselves, their decisions and their plans. Through a series of writing prompts, brief discussion and visualizations, Carmen will take you back to the roots of your personality and heritage and bring you to a magnified view of yourself at the present moment to then lay the foundation for who you want to be. Capacity: The capacity is at 10 participants. For more info call (718) 585-5540 Cost: $120 includes a journal, 4 hours of facilitated and guided writing expression and nourishment. Register by August 5th. Two scholarships are available, inquire for more details. To reserve your spot, email Carmen at carmen@thesewatersrundeep.com.

A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM MANUELA!

I walked into CASA that day to hear the laughter and honest banter between Dee and Sheiyee, who I used to know as Toyin. They were chatting about their lives, flowing easily into that familiar safe space that characterized the relationships between women/free-spirited beings who frequented CASA. Amped about the journey we were about to embark on, I raced down the steps with my groceries and headed straight into their welcome... Although new to CASA, I was home. The kitchen soon became the gathering place for imagining our journey towards deeper empowerment. Within 10 minutes I was joined by 3 young women who had grown up in CASA. Their mothers attended activities back when they were 2 and 3 years old.."When we were babies we used to come to CASA...We played with toys and learned how to sage our auras," one of them told me. Eager to help out, they peeled melons, mashed avocados, and shared with me their grandmother's recipes for making juice out of pineapple peel. "Who taught you how to make that?" I asked them. I reminded me so much of my grandmother, a beautiful blue-black ancient wise woman who did everything slowly and intentionally. "My grandmother. She's Dominican too!" We made our first connection as we realized that we both were part of lineages made of women that spanned endless generations... Later on the mothers and daughters filled our space with their chatter. Carmen, CASA's program director, gently nudged me to go meditate and prepare myself for emanating our mission of young women's empowerment prior to talking to the crowd. "The women have already arrived. I think we've already begun." We smiled and realized that were already in our moment to be of service to other women. We acknowledged and just TRUSTED our mission--to create a safe space for young women to explore their emotions, learn about their culture of resistance and dream up new possibilities for lives full of joy and self-knowing. As we went around the all of us why she had come. able." Everyone took a deep agement. "I am here because herself, and know how ted, "I am here because my her. Later on, we saw her learned how to play We played the rhythm steadily for a few minutes as our adult ally, one of the members of The Legacy Circle Women's Drum Cypher, girls the basic step for Yuba. Yeli came because, as all of us with Circle, we believed in the power of traditional cultural arts to our very spirits and communities. "Are you coming back?" I asked yes! But don't make me dance. I might hurt myself, or someone laughed, and she waved goodbye. Dee, Carmen, and I watched as women walked away. We felt proud that after our evening of talkmeditating, and sharing, they knew that they were home and that here to help them realize their dreams and amplify their spiritual, physical and community power. I'm excited about journey this can feel in my gut something big is going to happen to all of us... Trusting, --Manuela Arciniegas The Legacy Circle & CASA Atabex Ache room, a shy young woman introduced herself and told "I am here because I want to stop feeling so miserbreath and instantly sent her compassion and encourI want my daughter to speak up for herself, to trust amazing she truly is." Another young woman admitmother forced me to be here." We smiled patiently at uncross her arms, straddle the drum and smile as she the Yuba rhythm in Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba. Yelimara, taught the The Legacy transform her, "Heck else!" We the other 20 ing, dancing, we were mental, summer. I

CASA Wants to Thank you for such a beautiful Summer CAMP you have left a LEGACY !

Join Casas Healers Network Today and Post your workshops in our newsletter, offer a workshop at CASA, rent out our healing space or become a referral to our community! Call -718-585-5540

THE SIMON BOLIVAR FOUNDATION FUNDS CASA!

With support from the Simon Bolivar Foundation, Casa seeks to spend the next year creating a Leadership Health Model that is rooted in self-healing & organizing focusing on young women /organizer/activist self empowerment, self sustainability, leadership development and personal & organizational health. This summer we will be developing a young and adult Women of Color Healing Arts Collective. The South Bronx is the UNHEALTHIEST of New York's 62 counties. It is plagued with poverty, dis-ease, unemployment , addiction and violence against women in all its forms impacting the mind, body and spirit of young women at an increasing rate. 37% of South Bronx residents say that they have lacked money to buy food at some point in the past 12 months. Most recently, the movie Precious depicting young women reality through the life story of a young black woman whose social conditions (ie. poverty) contributed to rape and incest that she experienced at home, which as a consequence led to obesity , low self esteem, teen pregnancy, illiteracy, sexually transmitted diseases, and an intergenerational cycle of abuse within the womyn in her family. We believe that Casa can give young women the tools they can use for mental, emotional, spiritual and physical wellness to deal with issues such as self mutilation, low self image, drugs, eating disorders, teen pregnancy, suicide, unsafe sex and unhealthy relationships, all leading to mental stress &emotional damage that often gets carried into their adult life affecting their reproductive health and overall health and wellness.

FOOD FOR THE SOUL! SUMMER HEALTH w/CASA...

1. Element: FIRE Summer is about tapping into the roots of passion and our erotic and warrior selves. It is important to go outside, sit in the sun, take a vacation, be in celebration and do activities that help you tap into your vital energy, your erotic, be bold, be creative, and live the seeds you planted during spring. towards what we are committed and most connected to. 3.FEELING /Health: Joy, mental and reproductive health Burn one on your altar or in your work and ask for what you need! Remember a situation when you have lost your power or given it away. Light a candle to reclaim your power. Make a list of what you want to commit to and what a healthy love and partnership look like then put it underneath the candle until it burns out. 5. CRYSTAL: Amber, carnelian or red jasper, sun stone

Summer is season of healing the past , reminiscing about our adolescents stories of love that allows one to live completely in the present. We heal from issues such as child sexual 2. CHAKRA: Solar abuse, incest, rape & sexual Plex/ Sacral & Root assault. Love lost, past partners and anything that has For some of us Summer is a taken our power away. time of movement and While at the same time crepower represented by the growth of the adolescent into ating life sustaining relaadulthood. Its about the love tionships grounded in our purpose and creating home of others, our sexuality and within. Go to the doctor, sex. We focus on our womb gyn and check for fibroids, our place of power, we use ovarian cancer , STDS, HIV/ our blood and erotic power AIDS. to manifest through intention and ritual. Its about 4. Candles : Red, Orbeing courageous, powerful ange & Yellow and passionate and moving

They comes in rings, stones to carry in your pocket. Buy one to ground in your leadership & creativity. Tie a yellow ribbon on your waist to walk in your strength and power. Remember DRESS IN Yellow, Red and Orange!

For More Information About CASA . Please contact us at 718-585-5540. Email: casaatabexahe@aol.com Face book: Casa Atabex Ache Website: www. casaatabexache.org