Centro del Obrero Fronterizo, Inc (2018)

 

Founded in 1981 by Chicana garment workers in Chamizal, La Mujer Obrera’s partnership with Texas Mezzanine Fund brought a financial restructuring that stabilized its work and funded women’s initiatives, proving that targeted financing can drive community progress.

Since its founding in 1981 by a group of Chicana garment workers–turned-activists, Centro del Obrero Fronterizo, Inc. (better known as La Mujer Obrera) has anchored its mission in the Chamizal neighborhood of El Paso, one of America’s most underserved urban communities. With nearly 67 percent of local families living below the poverty line, Chamizal has long faced systemic barriers to economic stability and access to fundamental human rights. From day one, La Mujer Obrera’s founders understood that the battles they fought on the factory floor were inseparable from the broader struggle for community advancement—and that real progress required women to lead with their own ideas and strategies.

Seven Pillars of Community Empowerment
Over four decades, La Mujer Obrera has refined its approach around seven immutable human rights:

  • Employment: Advocating for fair wages, safe working conditions, and opportunities for career advancement.

  • Housing: Securing affordable, stable homes through tenant organizing and cooperative housing initiatives.

  • Education: Offering ESL classes, vocational training, and leadership workshops for women and their families.

  • Nutrition & Health: Operating community gardens, food co-ops, and health-education programs to combat food insecurity and healthcare disparities.

  • Peace & Political Liberty: Building civic-engagement campaigns that empower women to vote, run for office, and influence public policy.

Each pillar represents more than a programmatic focus—it’s a right that women in Chamizal have claimed through collective action, cultural celebration, and an unwavering belief in their own agency.

Meeting Today’s Challenges with Strategic Support
Like many grassroots organizations, La Mujer Obrera faces the dual pressures of expanding its impact while managing legacy debt and fluctuating cash flows. “It is a daunting challenge to plan for the future when cash-flow challenges push us to compromise between improving our current projects and paying longstanding debt,” reflects Lorena Andrade, Executive Director.

Thanks to a strategic partnership with Texas Mezzanine Fund, the organization secured a cash-saving financial restructuring that has unlocked a dedicated workspace for planning, collaboration, and program development. This infusion of tailored capital relief has enabled La Mujer Obrera to:

  • Stabilize core programs without sacrificing new initiatives.

  • Reinvest operational savings into leadership development and community outreach.

  • Deepen strategic partnerships across El Paso, amplifying its voice in regional policy discussions.

Building a Sustainable Future—Together
Today, Centro del Obrero Fronterizo, Inc. leverages its strengthened financial footing to pilot new ventures in cooperative artisanry, land stewardship, and intergenerational cultural programming. Every pot of homemade tamales sold through its women-run co-op, every community mural painted with local youth, and every voter-registration drive led in Spanish underscores a single truth: progress is defined by those who labor for it with their own hands and hearts.

As La Mujer Obrera looks toward its fifth decade, it remains guided by the conviction that women are not an inexhaustible font of cheap labor, but architects of equitable, self-determined communities. The support of partners like Texas Mezzanine Fund doesn’t just balance the books—it carves out the physical and financial room for bold thinking, deliberate planning, and lasting impact.

ABOUT LA MUJER OBRERA

La Mujer Obrera is a grassroots, women‐led organization founded in El Paso in 1981 by Chicana garment workers and activists. From its inception, it has built its work around seven fundamental human rights—employment, housing, education, nutrition, health, peace, and political liberty—and developed organizing strategies rooted in those principles. Over the decades, it has been at the forefront of fighting against the “undeclared war” on marginalized Mexican-heritage women workers, resisting policies like NAFTA and challenging the idea that progress relies on women’s sacrifice and cheap labor.

Today, La Mujer Obrera continues to redefine progress from within its community, insisting that women shape their own futures. Through collective practices—cooking, child-rearing, farming, artisan crafts and commerce, and cultural celebrations—it preserves ancestral knowledge while addressing current struggles for work, dignity, and justice. The spaces it creates are consciously designed to empower today’s women and to leave a lasting legacy for future generations and their families.

 
 

LOCATION

EL PASO, TEXAS

 

INVESTMENT

TOTAL PROJECT COST: $10.1 MILLION
NMTC AMOUNT: $10.0 MILLION

 

IMPACT

165 FULL-TIME JOBS
47 CONSTRUCTION JOBS

 

PARTNERS

GONZALES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

 
COALESCENCE