Casa de Paz is an intentional community supporting the transformative

journey of recovery for Latina women and their children.

It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is just starting.

The vision is to establish a communal living space for multiple

Latina women and their children. The women and their children

also would have access to a variety of service providers

in the form of graduate students living in the same building.

Two possible buildings have been identified. Some of the

many things that need to take place for this vision to become

a reality are board and working group structuring, fundraising,

accountancy, promotion, website development, community

relations development, building purchase and renovation, program

development, legal services, educational advocacy, and

English as a Second Language (ESL) tutoring, among others.

While every project has trade-offs, success on this project will

be measured more on the creation of a safe environment with

needed services than on cost and schedule.

Casadepazcinci.org

Why Is This Project So Important?

Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing violence in

their home countries. In the United States, many of them

come from Latin America. Often, they lack communities

for support and integration as they transition from their

countries of origin. In addition, many face many obstacles

to stability and flourishing. How would you put

your life back together if you were a mother fleeing violence

in your country of origin, and once in a new country,

that same violence continues in your new home?

Few spaces offer stability and encouragement in such

circumstances, much less cultural sensitivities and professional

services to facilitate the transformation to selfsufficiency

and success. Casa de Paz/House of Peace is

an intentional community that encourages and draws out

women s resilience both by meeting them where they

are and providing time and space to heal, recover, and

grow. Most shelters for women and children are temporary;

the average stay is seven to twelve days. Casa de

Paz provides up to six months of stability, community,

and professional services to support women s growth

along a continuum of self-sufficiency matrixes. It is a

community that recognizes women s dignity and celebrates

each step toward the realization of their gifts as

human beings.

Casa de Paz is an ambitious project with several dimensions

to it. There is a shelter that provides six-month housing for

families, along with professional services to support a process

of healing and transformation. There is a support group for

women that serves residents and nonresidents alike.

The early meetings for Casa de Paz include seeking volunteers

to serve on the board and the three main working

groups. Then a facilitated meeting is being held to determine

the minimal viable product (MVP) to build. This is an open

and operating facility. Some of the features that are needed

include a director, staff, a building, remodeling the building,

funding, a website, programming, and volunteers. Organizational

responsibilities also must be defined. An important

question is: What can Casa de Paz do quickly without waiting

for other things to happen? What are some of the things they

need to do concurrently? How many projects can each of the

groups (the board and the three working groups) realistically

begin right away?

Armed with the answers to these questions, each of

the probable projects should have an elevator pitch:

What is included and why is it important? Then the

most critical few projects can be selected, resourced,

and chartered.

An example of an elevator pitch is: There is a need to

acquire a building and there is competition for both buildings

under consideration. One building is more attractive than the

other as the cost is considerably less although the number

of families served would be less.

Another elevator pitch is the need for website development.

A fledgling website exists, but there are so many

communication, fundraising, volunteer soliciting, and other

possible uses of the website that early development is

attractive. The elevator pitch could answer the following

questions:

Why is enhancing the website so important?

How can the website help us do other work we desire to

perform?

Where are we now?

What do we want?

Q1. If you were the project manager, what expertise would you like from the sponsor, stakeholders, or core team members to propose a milestone schedule with acceptance criteria?