¡Bienvenidos!

The National Conference of Puerto Rican Women (NACOPRW) is a national organization with chapters throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. NACOPRW-SoCal is the Southern California Chapter located in Orange County. One of our goals continues to be to promote and preserve our Puerto Rican culture, our history, traditions, connect or reconnect with our roots and to preserve the Spanish language. We continue to achieve this by participating in meetings and other scheduled activities related to culture, art, music, education, community service as well as social functions. It is through these activities that we can educate and develop leadership among Puerto Rican women; provide role models for our youth and our community; collaborate and network with other organizations locally and nationally, and encourage the formation of other chapters of NACOPRW in any community.

It is with great pride that I have accepted the opportunity to serve as president for our chapter this year. It is my hope that with our strong membership and with the leadership that has been nurtured throughout the years within our organization, we will continue to have fun filled activities, interesting and educational meetings, as well as to continue to develop ourselves not only as Puerto Rican women but as comrades and colleagues.

This website is dedicated to informing our friends, members, Latinos and Boricuas at large about our organization’s activities, events and accomplishments. I urge you to review our history and accomplishment pages in our website so that you can familiarize yourself with the wonderful activities we have done and the legacy and history we are leaving behind.

Contact us for more information about our chapter and our meetings. Our members are women from all walks of life, with different experiences and this is what enriches our organization. I invite you to attend one of our functions or meetings to network and meet other Puerto Rican and Hispanic women and get involved. Men and women of any nationality supportive of our goals are welcomed in the chapter as associate members. We look forward to another great year. Come and join us as NACOPRW-SoCal celebrates its 10^th anniversary!

Con mucho cariño,

Alice Apodaca, LCSW
NACOPRW-SoCal President 2008

President's Guanín

The guanín is a symbol of leadership used in the Taíno culture by the chief or cacique. NACOPRW-SoCal uses the guanín as a symbol of our heritage and leadership. It passes on from president to president in the tradition of the Taínos.

Taíno society was matrilineal. Name and status were inherited from one's mother and social standing was reckoned such that women might outrank men, even if men usually held political power. The caciques and their families were at the top of the social hierarchy. The mothers, sisters and grandmothers held especially high status. NACOPRW-SoCal's guanín is a design and creation of the chapter's co-founder, D.E. Castro Paden.