Centro Hispano’s Becas Program, which offers financial and wrap-around support to students who have participated in Centro’s programs to achieve their post-secondary dreams, was recently re-named after beloved Latina community leader Lucía Núñez, the former executive director of Centro (1999-2003), who passed away in 2024 at the age of 64 following decades of service to her community.
On July 12, Centro hosted a luncheon to recognize recipients of the Lucía Nuñez Becas Scholarships, which work to help create post-secondary educational opportunities for the area’s Latinx community.
“This program emulates Lucía’s life: a pursuit of opening doors and finding a way to help those with dreams create a reality they’re working toward for both themselves as individuals and their families,” Centro Executive Director Dr. Karen Menéndez Coller said in a press release. “A gift to this scholarship program helps bridge barriers for young people and is an extension of Lucía’s legacy.”
Centro Hispano of Dane County is the leading non-profit organization working with the Latinx population in Dane County, now supporting over 7,500 individuals annually with more than 20,000 hours of programming. Centro Hispano’s Becas (Scholarship) Program, now the Lucía Núñez Becas Program, is one of the non-profit’s popular programs and has been in existence for more than 20 years.
Originally from Cuba, Nunez relocated her family to Madison, where she became the executive director of Centro Hispano of Dane County from 1999 to 2003. She would later become the deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and administrator of the Equal Rights Division for the state of Wisconsin. Nunez also became the first director of the Department of Civil Rights for the city of Madison in 2006 and would later serve as the vice president for Madison College’s Office of Equity, Inclusion and Community Engagement.
“Lucía touched many lives in her time with us,” Menéndez Coller said. “I ask those who had the good fortune of knowing or working with her to consider providing a gift in her honor to help our next generation of those ready to lead and provide light for
us all as Lucia did.”
Those interested in contributing a gift in honor of Lucía Núñez can find more information here.
