Background gives Vargas Jasa insight
“I have seen firsthand a lot of the challenges that people deal with in their home countries and coming here, and yeah, I do think that that’s been helpful.” Carla Vargas Jasa
Valley of the Sun United Way president and CEO
Valley of the Sun United Way has been serving Maricopa County since 1927, tackling systemic inequities that lead to issues in health, housing, education and employment. Maricopa County is home to many communities of color, but none larger than the Latino community, which represents 32% of the county’s population, per recent Census data.
So when Carla Vargas Jasa was named the organization’s first Latina president and CEO in 2019, it dawned on her how impactful that feat was — for her and her community. “I didn’t even know that until I read the press release that the group had drafted and asked me to approve before it was sent out announcing me coming onboard,” Vargas Jasa told The Arizona Republic. “I was like, really? So yeah, it did surprise me and certainly was an honor.”
Since being appointed, Vargas Jasa has implemented goals and strategies that aim to address the needs of all Maricopa County residents, especially when so many identify as Latinos and immigrants. She sees them, she said, in a way that only a child of immigrants can.
Settling down in the United States
Vargas Jasa’s parents migrated to the United States from Paraguay when her mother was pregnant with her. She was born while her parents were living in student housing at Penn State University, where her father was working on his doctorate degree.
Her parents had been blacklisted from their home country of Paraguay. Vargas Jasa’s father was a leader of the student movement against the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay, the longest-standing dictatorship of the 20th century in the Global South.
After being jailed and tortured for leading protests against the dictatorship, Vargas Jasa’s parents left the country as soon as they married.
Once Vargas Jasa was born, her parents began their careers. Her father alternated between being a professor of business administration and working in that industry; her mother became an English teacher. Despite her mother not being as fluent in English when she first arrived in the U.S., Vargas Jasa said it became a priority for her to learn and instill that in her daughter.
“She didn’t speak much English when we came here,” Vargas Jasa said. “She had studied it, but she made a point of teaching English first, knowing that they likely wouldn’t be able to return to Paraguay and wanting me to be able to function in the society.”
Vargas Jasa didn’t learn to speak Spanish fluently until her family moved to Mexico for a couple of years while her father was working in Guadalajara. Vargas Jasa’s father relocated for jobs a few times during her childhood. Vargas Jasa moved to Tucson twice, where she lived while her father worked at University of Arizona. She moved to metro Phoenix in 2019.
Finding her calling
After graduating from El Dorado High School in Orange County, California, Vargas Jasa went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Berkeley. Her goal was to become a human rights lawyer, but after working at a law firm during college, she decided to pursue a career in the nonprofit sector. “I shifted my thinking about wanting to work in the nonprofit sector to really influence issues that I cared about that I realized were human rights issues,” Vargas Jasa said. “Like people being able to have a safe home to live in and having access to education no matter where it was that
they grew up, and being able to be healthy and having a good job. And I realized that the nonprofit sector was the best place to do that work and ultimately made that transition.”
Vargas Jasa remained in California for a few years and used the skills she learned during college to work as a legal advocate at a domestic violence shelter organization, assisting women in filing restraining orders and guiding them in other legal procedures.
In 1998, Vargas Jasa joined Orange County United Way as vice president of investor relations. She later became senior vice president of community impact and chief operating officer in 2017. In September 2019, the organization named her president of the Arizona chapter. According to Vargas Jasa, her move to Arizona and to Valley of the Sun United Way was inspired by her time spent in Tucson, as well as a long-distance relationship-turned-marriage that she maintained for five years. Vargas Jasa was able to learn more about Arizona’s different communities and the issues they faced because her nowhusband held a job in Scottsdale and she’d visit him every weekend.
Establishing leadership during the pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic started less than a year after Vargas Jasa began her leadership role in Phoenix. Vargas Jasa said that despite the hardships of the pandemic, Valley of the Sun United Way was able to continue working smoothly because they already had a hybrid work environment set up.
With that system already in place, Vargas Jasa and her team were able to launch a COVID-19 response fund within a week and partnered with Arizona Community Foundation to distribute more than $400,000 to nonprofits across the Valley. The response fund ultimately raised $3 million.
“It felt like every day we would wake up and not know what was going to be going on that day,” Vargas Jasa said. “And so, you know, that was hard. It’s hard for anybody, right? It was hard for me too but you know, you need to roll with it. And I feel like I really stepped into my authentic leadership style during that time frame.”
Vargas Jasa and her team launched MC2026 in March 2021, a five-year plan for Mighty Change in Maricopa County. Some of those goals include:
● Decreasing food insecurity by 50% by 2026.
● Increasing the number of individuals with access to affordable health care by 100,000 by 2026.
● Reducing homelessness by 50% by 2026.
Valley of the Sun United Way received a $25 million gift from Amazon co-founder and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott in December 2020, the largest single donation ever received by the organization. Vargas Jasa told the Republic that receiving the gift from Scott was one of her proudest moments as a leader. Being the first Latina President and CEO of Valley of the Sun United Way, Vargas Jasa said that she feels the community has been very receptive to her and that her background as a Latina woman helps provide insight.
“I have seen firsthand a lot of the challenges that people deal with in their home countries and coming here, and yeah, I do think that that’s been helpful.” Vargas Jasa said. “I’m also an only child of two immigrants who again have their own trauma and issues that they dealt with both in their childhoods and coming here and I hope that people understand that and see that and know that I see them.”