Edna Negron Rosario
Induction Category:
Education & Preservation
Inducted:
1994
Edna Negron Rosario is an educator, consultant and community organizer who established the first family resource center and school-based health clinic in the nation.
Edna Negron was born in Puerto Rico and came to the United States in 1955. Her family settled in Hartford, where she attended Weaver High School. She went on to graduate from Hartford College for Women and then the University of Hartford, where she was awarded a B.S. degree in 1973 (summa cum laude) and an M.S. in 1974.
Negron began her teaching career in 1974, teaching first grade at the Ann Street Bilingual Community School in Hartford, and then served for many years as the coordinator of the Bilingual/Bicultural Education Program for the Hartford Public Schools. As principal of the Ramon E. Betances School in Hartford, she founded the Family Resource Center, which became a national model for family-based, multi-generational social services housed in public schools.
In 1989, after a long term on the board of directors of La Casa de Puerto Rico, Negron was elected as its president. A year later, she became the representative for the state’s 6th House District after winning a special election for the seat vacated by the death of Maria Sanchez. She served out the remainder of Sanchez's term and ran again for the seat in November 1990. Rosario also serves the community as a member of numerous boards, committees, task forces, volunteer groups and professional organizations.
She has been a guest lecturer on bilingual education and Puerto Rican history and culture at colleges and universities and on radio and television. Her many awards include a public service award from the Connecticut Chapter of the National Organization of Women, the Greater Hartford Alumni Association's Community Leadership Recognition Award, Hartford Hospital's Community Service Award, the Connecticut Hispanic Bar Association's Achievement Award and an honorary doctorate from Trinity College.
Rosario has three children and resides in Hartford. She served as Connecticut's regional director of the governor's Office of Puerto Rico, assistant vice president for community affairs for The Hartford, and representative for the Hartford Public Schools with the Connecticut Regional Educational Council and the Hartford Public Library. She is currently the southern New England regional director for the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, where she has worked to register Puerto Ricans as voters in the state.
Born: 1944
Town: Hartford
During This Time:
1966 - Today: Struggle for Justice Learn more about the time period in which this Inductee lived.
"The lobbying power of the vote, I don't need to tell you, is very big."
-Edna Negron Rosario