OUR STORY

MANA de North Texas was founded in August 2008 when the conference of MANA, the only National Latina Organization, and the Hermanitas Leadership Institute (HLI) was held in Fort Worth, Texas. The Hermanitas Leadership Institute (HLI) promotes educational achievement and persona enrichment for Latinas from 11 to 18 years. Students from across the country came to participate in Fort Worth along with their Madrinas and MANA members. The program included workshops with inspirational speakers, as well as an educational experiential day in our city. Avanzamos is a program that helps develop our members as leaders and strong women with adult financial literacy education, youth mentoring, capacity building, and countless local program initiatives to meet the needs of our Latinas in today's ever-changing environment.

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Local leaders such as Rosa Navejar, Estela Martinez-Stuart, Lupe Arriola, Rita Rodriguez Utt, Eva Sandoval Bonilla, and others encouraged MANA to bring their annual conference to Fort Worth. The founding President was Rita Rodriguez Utt and Vice President was Eva Sandoval Bonilla. At our first conference, Mary Ann Kellam and Eva Bonilla became Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians (CPST) after 12 hours of training. Eva continued to be a CPST until 2019 and is still representing MANA at Safe Kids, Inc., sponsored by Cook's Children's Hospital.