Mujeres Ayudando La Raza (M.A.R.), meaning Women Helping the People, was first established in the fall quarter of 1990 at the University of California, Davis. The founding mothers at U.C. Davis felt a critical need for an organization that would serve as a support group for Chicanas and Latinas. The organization was founded with a common feeling that both cultural experiences and academic pressures could be shared with other women in hopes of making their educational goals ascertainable.

According to the U.C. Davis constitution, Mujeres Ayudando La Raza was created so that the life of the Chicanas and Latinas at U.C. Davis would be academically stable, as well as socially and culturally enriched.

We the founding mothers of Mujeres Ayudando La Raza at California State University, Sacramento felt a similar need, for an organization that would help unite the Chicanas and Latinas on our campus. We, the founding mothers, decided that the organization Mujeres Ayudando La Raza was the best to fit our needs and concerns; therefore, agreed to branch out of U.C. Davis. As of March 2, 1999, Mujeres Ayudando La Raza was officially recognized as a campus organization at California State University, Sacramento.