Maria quinones sanchez biography graphic organizer

Maria Quiñones Sánchez is a proven leader who has dedicated her life to addressing some of Philadelphia’s most entrenched problems, from endemic poverty to community development, from education to affordable housing.

Maria’s upbringing has given her a firsthand understanding of the challenges facing working families, immigrant communities and people of color in Philadelphia.

Maria moved to Philadelphia from Puerto Rico when she was 6 months old, with her mother and two older siblings to be closer to her father, who worked as a seasonal farmworker in Kennett Square and South Jersey.

Because of struggles with alcoholism, her parents divorced when she was a small child, leaving her mother to raise her on her own.

As a small child, Maria, her mother, and her siblings lived in public housing on Spring Garden Street.

After years working hard in Philadelphia factories, her mother finally scraped together enough money for the