The Santiago Carrasquillo Family Scholarship will honor the memory of their grandmother and great-grandmother Teresa Ortiz Fernandez, their mentor, example, and inspiration. She was a humble, unassuming woman; no era perfumada. However, everyone knew she was a powerful woman because her word was her bond. Once she gave it, everyone knew that whatever she promised would be done!

 

Many years after her passing in 1983, A letter dated 1973, from the then General Council of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund Cesar Perales congratulating her for successfully suing the Board of Elections to have ballots, voter information, and translators at polling sites in Spanish when 5% of the population was Puerto Rican and/or Hispanic.  Her family was stunned at what this letter was acknowledging because she never spoke about it. This decision set the precedence for people today to vote in their native language. As children, the family remembers the many meetings in their apartment on Intervale Avenue, in the South Bronx.

 

She was a no-nonsense woman who served her community, and she just did what needed to be done with no fanfare. This is our family's small piece of Puerto Rican history in its struggle for the right to vote in Spanish in the Diaspora.

 

The Santiago Carrasquillo Family Scholarship is awarded to high school seniors, undergrads, and graduate students majoring in public policy, political science, and civic engagement.  

The scholarship winner will receive a $1,000 scholarship.

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• The Santiago Carasquillo Scholarship for the Public Policy, Political Science or Civic Engagement is open to graduating High School seniors and college students

• For Scholarship Application Click Here

• All Scholarships are administered by Comité Noviembre

• Click here to view the 2021 Scholarship recipients

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Lisa M. Rodriguez

Co-Chair, Comité Noviembre Scholarship Selection Committee
(347) 693-6893, cn.scholarship@gmail.com

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TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE SCHOLARSHIP:

Visit our Donate page.