After 28 years, Latina advocacy group Sepa Mujer finds permanent home in Patchogue

Sepa Mujer didn’t exist 30 years ago.

But even after bouncing from one temporary home to another, the Patchogue social services nonprofit has become an indispensable part of Long Island’s Latino community, supporters say.

A year after moving into a new home on North Ocean Avenue in the South Shore community, the agency has nearly doubled its staff and developed plans for new programs aimed at providing more help for its clients — primarily Hispanic women affected by domestic violence, poverty and the struggle to learn a new language and culture.

"I think Sepa Mujer has been very successful because of the way we approach our community," executive director Martha Maffei told Newsday. "This is a dream as well for many of our members. The same way we have had to [move to] different places, they have had to do it."

Sepa Mujer — a Spanish contraction for Servicios Para el Avance de Mujer, or Services for the Advancement of Women — moved last December to a 5,000-square-foot building, 10 times larger than the previous home it rented at Temple Beth El in Patchogue. Sepa Mujer paid $790,000 for the North Ocean Avenue site after a yearslong fundraising campaign, Maffei said. The group receives its funding from government and private sources, Maffei said.

Since then, Sepa Mujer has hired seven employees, bringing its staff to 15. The nonprofit plans to hire three more people, Maffei said.

Since its founding in 1993, Sepa Mujer has moved from its original home in Hempstead to Touro Law Center in Central Islip and then to Patchogue.

"We’ve been moving a lot. Basically, we were tired of that," Maffei said. "We never thought this would be possible."

More than just providing food and counseling, Sepa Mujer aims to train clients to become leaders — in their own households and their communities, Maffei said.

Suffolk Legis. Sam Gonzalez (D-Brentwood) said the training is vitally important because many Latinas hail from countries where women often are afraid to speak out against abuse. Sepa Mujer, he said, teaches women they need not live in fear.

"They’re not afraid, they want to participate. They want to help their community," Gonzalez said of women who complete Sepa Mujer's leadership training program. "It’s enabling women to be leaders of tomorrow, and that’s the important thing — to not be afraid to speak out."

Maffei said it was especially meaningful to remain in Patchogue, where the 2008 fatal stabbing of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero shocked Long Island. A Medford teen later was convicted in the hate-crime killing.

"If we were here in 2008, Marcelo Lucero would have been knocking on our door and asking for help, and he would be alive today," Maffei said, adding a large part of the nonprofit's job is changing perceptions of Latinos.

Lucero's brother Joselo said he is an ardent supporter of Sepa Mujer's mission.

"They have a great role in the community," he said. "Most of the Latino community comes from areas where domestic violence is normal. … I think it’s really important to the community that women who are victims have a voice."

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.