Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Who is the Las Comadres Para Las Amerias?
Las Comadres Para Las Americas is a 21-year old city-based community building/networking group for Latinas to learn about and celebrate the Latino culture and share professional, social and cultural connections. Educational and enrichment activities and opportunities are provided both by Las Comadres and many community groups whose information is shared via this network. Las Comadres is defined by two elements: monthly face-to-face gatherings called Comadrazos (SM) and an email service to the many city networks that make up the organization.
Special Note: Since 2020, Las Comadres Networks have been meeting via zoom.
Q: How do I join Las Comadres?
Click here to join the Las Comadres para las Americas.
Q: How much does it cost to join?
A: Las Comadres is free and does not compete with any membership organizations. Everything we do is through a self-selection process. You register to receive the emails and participation at any event is optional. Should you wish to show your support, donations are gratefully accepted!
Q: Can non-Latinas join Las Comadres?
A: Yes, if you are married to a Latino or have a corazon latino. Membership for “corazon latino” is by interview with Nora de Hoyos Comstock.
Q: What topics are typical on the Las Comadres email list?
A: Subscribers share info about education, employment, real estate, fundraisers, community resources. We also have created special interest groups which are particular to a given city or many cities. Special interest groups include groups on gardening, books, writing, film, wine, food, health, etc. Ask for more info on special interest groups in your city.
Q: What are the Guidelines for Posting Email to Las Comadres?
A: Send messages for posting ONLY to your city specific yahoogroup OR to nora.comstock@gmail.com
We are mostly an information and support network. Therefore, we do not post jokes or general types of email that you would receive from others. We try to stick to items that will benefit the majority of our members, their families and friends. The information shared with each city group is local or regional or national but local info for a specific city is not shared with other cities unless there is some specific relevancy.
Las Comadres is a moderated list. This means that messages must be approved by one of the moderators for the group. There are several reasons for this:
- Comadres do not always know the guidelines for posting and jokes and other interesting general information is posted which is not appropriate for busy professionals.
- The messages have been forwarded many times and all the previous email addresses and other garbage is included in the message so messages need to be filtered before sending them out.
- Moderation becomes a spam/virus filter, e.g., because the list is moderated, the spam goes no further than the moderator of the list.
Q: MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS.
At this time, there are no provisions for doing this but we are working on creating some special opportunities besides, of course, our business expo and our business directory.
We DO NOT post business information for specific businesses. We DO POST for Comadres/Compadres business, an occasional, ribbon cuttings, non-realtor open houses, special events, etc. However since a large part of our mission is to learn about our culture, we DO post for our artists, musicians, poets Comadres/Compadres, book signings, performances, pre-sale, etc.
We do not post political messages that support a given candidate or fundraisers for candidates, etc. We DO post a felicidades or kudos for a Comadre who is running for political office to celebrate and encourage participation in the political process.
Q. When do messages get posted?
A: Messages get posted daily but you should submit your post as early in the day as possible because there is no set time or day of the week to post messages. Depending on the type of message, some messages will be reviewed before they are posted to verify the information. So delays can happen and do not expect for messages to be posted immediately.
Q: How do you prepare a message to send to Las Comadres Listserv?
A: USE A CORRECT SUBJECT HEADING. Email messages SUBJECT lines are very important; they tell your reader or the message approver what the message is about. If you use the same email that you received to write about a different subject, your reader can get confused and if she needs to locate that specific message, it might be difficult to remember what subject the info is under so change the subject to the pertinent title. Another point about the subject line is that it should be meaningful and short.
We ask that you clean up the email before sending it to us, e.g., delete a long list of email addresses or any email addresses (to protect privacy of others). Also delete any extraneous material that is not pertinent to the information you want us to read, e.g., “non-text portions have been removed” and things of this nature.
Also, if you are forwarding information from someone else about specific products, situations, check it out before you forward to everyone in your address book. Check for accuracy before sending emails that might be spam.
We recommend you create a separate email folder for Las Comadres mail or have it go directly into a separate folder within your email account. This way we don’t fill up your regular email box. Of course, you can always read mail on the web and not get any in your email inbox.
Q: What are my options for receiving Las Comadres email?
A: Choose Individual and you will receive each email individually as it is sent; Choose Daily Digest and you will receive all the email posts in a one day period in one email usually at the beginning of the day; Choose Web and you will receive no emails but can read the postings online whenever you choose.
Q: Whom should I contact if I am having problems with or have questions about my Las Comadres list subscription?
A: Send an email to info@LasComadres.com
Q: What is a Comadrazo(sm)and where are they held?
A: A Comadrazo(sm) is an informal gathering of Latinas for the purpose of getting to know one another in order to build friendships and professional and personal support systems. But a COMADRAZO is not a party! It is a gathering with a specific purpose: to meet and build meaningful relationships with other Comadres to support each other, our families, and our communities. The Comadrazos(sm) are held in the homes of members until they are too large to accommodate the numbers attending.
Q: Is there an online archive of Las Comadres messages?
A: Yes but you must be a subscriber to the list to and have web access to yahoo groups in order to access this information.
Q: Are there any programs offered through Las Comadres?
A: Yes, please check our Speaker Series and Las Comadres University pages. Check back regularly as this website is constantly being updated regularly with new programming.