Alicia R. Chacón, a barrier-breaking El Paso public servant who helped open local government to Mexican American women, died Tuesday at 87, leaving behind a decades-long record of elected office, nonprofit leadership, and tireless community organizing.
According to El Paso Matters, Chacón was born Nov. 11, 1938, in Canutillo and graduated from Ysleta High School in 1957. In a 2017 video autobiography, she reflected, “Each of us can make a difference,” a line local leaders echoed this week while remembering her career.
Chacón’s political life started close to home in the Ysleta neighborhood, where she first jumped in as a parent pushing for safer, better-maintained schools. As detailed by EPCC Library Guides, she went on to become the first Mexican American elected to the Ysleta Independent School District board in 1970, using that seat to champion bilingual education and other local reforms.
Her influence quickly stretched beyond El Paso. President Jimmy Carter tapped Chacón to serve as a regional director of the Small Business Administration, a rare national role for a Latina at the time. She was later inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame in 1986, according to Texas Woman’s University.
Back home, Chacón was elected El Paso County judge in 1990, a milestone the county still celebrates. Her name now appears above the commissioners’ courtroom at the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse, according to El Paso County. The Ysleta Independent School District also honors her legacy with the Alicia R. Chacón International School in the Lower Valley, per The Texas Tribune.
Chacón’s work did not stop at the ballot box. She served as national chair of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and later as president and CEO of United Way El Paso, roles that amplified her longtime advocacy on farmworker rights and bilingual education, as documented by El Paso Matters.
.jpg){kind=link}