Today we celebrate International Youth Day! Here at CLUES we are proud to have many youth programs such as Entre Mujeres, which empowers young Latina high schoolers to recognize their personal worth, strengthen their leadership abilities and self-confidence, and make change in their communities and beyond.

“Entre Mujeres is like a second family. It’s a very empowering place where we all get to grow and learn more about topics that aren’t discussed in school,” said Karen Delgado-Villanueva.

This month, fifteen young women from the Entre Mujeres program are using their talents to educate the community about how it feels to be a young Latina in Minnesota through a brightly colored mural. The Entre Mujeres group came up with the idea after working with artist Grettel Arrate, who was visiting from Cuba and had a gallery exhibit at CLUES.

“In celebration of International Women’s Day we partnered with the Cuban artist Grettel Arrete. We had a discussion around what it means to be a woman, how society views women, and how that makes us feel. The mural is a combination of all those conversations,” said Natalie Somerson, Entre Mujeres coordinator.

Because of the COVID pandemic, the mural was created using many safety precautions. Two separate groups from Entre Mujeres worked on the mural outdoors and on separate days, wearing masks and working at separate tables. The mural was designed as a collage, so that each participant could work on their pieces individually and then combine them together like a puzzle.

“I was excited to create a piece for the mural because it was something that I was doing with the other girls and we were incorporating drawings we did that were very powerful and had a huge message,” said Maggy Alarcon, one of the participants. “This mural represents something big. It’s showing the world how women are seen and talked about. To show we worthy and equal to men. I want the message to be that women are very powerful and that they are trying! And also show what people think or say of women, and how they view them.”

Don’t miss the pictures of the mural and their powerful message!