NUF Alumna, Yolanda Sánchez Passes

Yolanda Sánchez, a NUF alumna of the Class of 1970, passed away on June 11, 2012 at Metropolitan Hospital. A Celebration of Yolanda's life will be held on Wednesday, June 20th at 6pm at the Casabe Houses Community Room, 150 East 121 Street (at Lexington Avenue) in her beloved El Barrioin Manhattan.

Yolanda, a lifelong resident of Manhattan's El Barrio, and a community activist since the 1960s, was an author, educator, social worker, community organizer and administrator. She was, most recently, the program coordinator for the CACHE Cultural Arts Program hosted by Casabe Houses.  She was founder and president of the National Latinas Caucus.

Yolanda was head of a number of agencies, including the Puerto Rican Association for Community Affairs (PRACA), the Boriken Health Center, and director of Puerto Rican Program Development at the City College. She was the founder of the East Harlem Council for Human Services, the Puerto Rican Inter-Agency Council and the NYC Chapter of the National Conference of Puerto Rican Women, and also organized and served as first chair of El BAC (El Barrio Action Coalition). She also helped create such institutions as Taino Towers, Casabe Houses and ¡Muevete!

She was a graduate of City College of New York (CUNY) and had a Master's Degree from Columbia University in Social Work with a Specialization on Community Organizing.  More►