Neighborhood and community organizing in colonias : A case study in the development and use of promotoras

Abstract

Promotores are leaders in traditional Mexican communities whose role in agrarian life dates back to the land reform movement following the revolution. Recently, there have been efforts at developing these roles in the colonias in the United States' southwest as a means of providing health education and civic information in these hard-to-reach communities. This paper discusses an example of how community organizers incorporated the promotora concept among a group of women to bring about social and political change in their colonia. © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.