Latest News From Mayapan

This is a direct letter from Mercado Mayapan

Dear Friends,

The new year is upon us, and we are very grateful for the incredible support that all of you and the entire community provided us to get through 2009.

In the final days of 2009, we raised more than $7,000 in donations and short term loans from Friends and Amigos, and more than $40,000 in sales to be able to cover the final payroll of 2009, which was also a rare third payroll for the month of December. This response is a clear demonstration of the potential of the Mercado as a community cultural and economic center for not only low income women and their families, but all of El Paso as well as friends, family and tourists from afar.

With the entrance of 2010, we also are receiving a very generous and critically important grant from the North American Development Bank, which has been an investor in our social purpose businesses for more than 10 years. This support will allow us to not only sustain the Mercado but grow it towards self-sufficiency and long term sustainability.

Unfortunately, along with this wonderful news and advances, we continue to face challenges with the City of El Paso. Although through several meetings in late 2009 we had been told that the city would work with us, on January 5, city council voted to declare us in default on the loan that they provided us in June 2009. Currently we are in negotiations to try to develop a repayment agreement, which will result in payoff of the loan while allowing the Mercado to continue to operate and grow in 2010.

And to those ends, we have lots of exciting plans and events coming up very soon:

• On February 1, Café Mayapan’s restaurant will begin again. With a new menu, Café Mayapan waitress-based lunch service will be available 11am to 3pm, Monday through Friday, in our 2000 Texas Avenue building.

• On February 6, Museo Mayachen will unveil its newest exhibit, the Chicano/a Movement in El Paso in Mercado Mayapan

• Every weekend in February, there will be exciting unique programs in Mercado Mayapan dedicated to the Chicano/a movement. Each Saturday in February, there will a forum featuring key local and national Chicano/a leaders to share about the diverse impacts and milestones that the movement achieved. And each Sunday, a multitude of artists and musicians will perform, including music by Mariachi Flores Mexicanas, Alacranes Mojados, cultural group Ceiba, Radio la Chusma, Danza Azteca, Folklorico Tonatiuh, Words of Wisdom Chicano/a Poetry Slam, and a low rider show. The Mercado’s menu also will feature favorites from long-time barrio residents and families.

And this is just the beginning!!! Mercado Mayapan staff and leadership are also working on a whole new calendar of events and programming for all of 2010, including the Mercado’s first anniversary on May 1, the Mole Festival in July, and of course our annual Day of the Dead program in November.

Our fundamental goal this year is to not only expand the number of people who come to the Mercado, but in particular we want to build REPEAT customers. Our goal is to grow 5% per month.


You can help us reach those goals in several ways:

• Come by the Mercado at least once a week—during the weekdays! Growing numbers of people are attending our programming on the weekends, but we want to build the Mercado also as the community’s shopping site for groceries and gifts, as well as a meal during the week.

• Bring your family and friends to the Mercado regularly—make it your place to hang out on the weekends—the programming is ever changing, but always family friendly!! Set a goal of coming at least twice a month with family and friends, for a meal, an event or shopping on the weekend.

• Select one group you are a part of—your workplace, a club, a professional association—and commit to distributing information about Mercado Mayapan events to them each month. You can enroll in our email list to get regular bulletins on our programming (email centromayapan@mujerobrera.org to subscribe to the list)

• Work with Isabella Rodriguez, our events contract coordinator (mercadomayapan@mujerobrera.org) to schedule a meeting or event at the Mercado or the Café, or have them serve as your group’s caterer!

Again, thank you so much for all of your support in 2009 and throughout the years. We are very very excited about the potential of this year, and we are confident that with continued community support, Mercado Mayapan will become a premier cultural and commercial center for El Paso and the whole border region.

With very best wishes in this new year,

La Mujer Obrera