Dominican Women’s Development Center (DWDC)

Education, Health and Well-Being, Economic Opportunity

Geography: United States

Founded: 1988

Address:

519 West 189th Street
New York, NY 10040

About the Dominican Women's Development Center (DWDC)

Dominican Women’s Development Center (DWDC) is a non-profit organization located in Washington Heights, Northern Manhattan. Its mission is to counteract gender subordination by promoting self-sufficiency, advancing educational goals and engendering the necessary skills and self-esteem to transform individual lives and community. DWDC was founded in 1988 by nine Dominican women who identified the need for Latinas to organize around critical issues and seek solutions to systemic problems affecting their families and community, such as sexism and discrimination, high housing costs, low-achieving schools, high dropout rates, limited access to health care services, attacks on reproductive rights, high teenage pregnancy, and high poverty rates.

DWDC bases its programs on the understanding that Dominican, Latina and other women are affected by the forces of racism, sexism, classism and other forms of oppression simultaneously, all of which touch their lives in a variety of ways, including domestic and other forms of violence and inadequate access to well needed services.  They use a holistic service model that addresses the social, cultural, economic, educational and spiritual needs of their population.