TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Sunnyside Foundation, a non-profit centered in Southside Tucson, coordinated with the family of late Congressman Raul Grijalva to build a scholarship fund.
“It's a huge honor for us to join forces with the family and honor him,” said Elizabeth Soltero, CEO of the Sunnyside Foundation.
The scholarship, according to the website, will assist students at Sunnyside High School in continuing their education by providing access to that opportunity. Grijalva graduated from Sunnyside High School in 1967.
If you would like to donate to the Sunnyside Foundation in honor of the late congressman, click here.
“We are a growing and thriving community, [but] we've been disinvested as a whole for a really long time. For me, it's definitely a no-brainer to invest here in the south side of Tucson, and we'll just continue to do great work,” Soltero said.
In addition to his investment in the community, former Congressman Raul Grijalva served on the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee in Washington D.C. as the top Democrat. He announced his departure from the committee in December after years of advocacy for environmental issues on public and tribal lands. Marilyn Zepeda, a native Tucsonan, worked with him on the committee.
“My whole time that I've been here in Tucson, been living in the South side, went to the U of A, did a lot of community work, and I didn't even think going to DC was an option,” Zepeda remembered. She worked for Grijalva's office in Tucson for two years before she was given the opportunity to move to D.C. in 2018. She described it as a difficult transition as a Mexican woman.
“He would always call me into his office and check in on me and say, "Mijita, just because they look at us and we look Mexican, doesn't mean that we're not smarter or better than them." So he would always remind me,” she said.
She recently started on a new career path after deciding to leave the Natural Resources Committee, no longer having Grijalva's influence in the committee. She shared her plans to continue his vision of protecting tribal lands by working in D.C. with the confidence she said Grijalva instilled.
“He always made sure that like he made everybody comfortable, everybody that looked like him comfortable in the halls of Congress. And that was really, really, like, powerful. And I lived in DC by myself, so it was really wonderful to be able to count on him for that support,” she said.
As someone who considered him a mentor, she's excited to know his legacy will continue making opportunities possible for Southside students, just as his guidance did for her.
