Rosario Anaya — backer of immigrant education
Services will be held on Sept. 19 for Rosario Anaya, the longtime leader of the Mission Language Vocational School in San Francisco, a former president of the city’s Board of Education, and for decades a vigorous advocate for the education of immigrants and their families.
Ms. Anaya, the first Latina elected to public office in San Francisco, died of lung cancer on Aug. 5. She was 70.
“She was a true friend to our city, a champion for the Mission District and an advocate for our diverse communities,” San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement.
Born on Oct. 7, 1944 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a university city within sight of the Andes Mountains, Ms. Anaya settled in Oakland with her family in 1961 when she was 17.
She soon became involved in advocacy work for low-income families in San Francisco, and before she turned 30, Ms. Anaya was named executive director of the nonprofit Mission Language Vocational School.
During her 42-year tenure, Ms. Anaya transformed the program that offered mainly English instruction for Latinos into a broader vocational training school for all immigrants, with classes in medical assisting, clerical skills and computer, culinary, business and pharmacy skills. About 300 students graduate each year.
“She was a trailblazer,” said her friend Sandy Close, executive director of the ethnic news coalition New American Media, where Ms. Anaya was an active board member for nearly 20 years.
Ms. Anaya became the first Latina to serve on the San Francisco school board in 1977 when Mayor George Moscone appointed her to fill a vacant seat. The next year, when voters elected her to the same seat, she became the first woman of Latin American descent elected to public office in city history.
She served for 12 years on the school board, including two terms as president. In 1989, when school district administrators revealed that black children accounted for nearly 75 percent of all suspensions yet were only 20 percent of enrollment, Ms. Anaya urged the administration to develop a long-range plan for black students and back it up with adequate funding.
“When you have a family and a child that’s sick, you have to spend more money on the child that’s sick until he gets well,” Ms. Anaya said at the time.
Educated at the University of San Francisco, she received a bachelor’s degree in public administration and a master’s in counseling and psychology.
Ms. Anaya supported the United Farm Workers and worked with Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition during the 1980s. She campaigned to rename Army Street for labor leader Cesar Chavez in the 1990s, and helped found the annual parade and festival in his honor. In 2010, thenMayor Gavin Newsom appointed her to the San Francisco Redevelopment Commission (now the Commission on Community Investment and Infrastructure), which oversaw affordable housing.
A public mass and reception for Ms. Anaya will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 19, at Mission Dolores, 3321 16th St., San Francisco.
The Rosario Anaya Scholarship Fund for Latinos and Latinas in the Mission has been set up at the Mission Language and Vocational School, 2929 19th St., San Francisco, CA 94110.