Her family's poor economic situation forced her to quit school in the 8th grade, in order to help her parents with the caring of her brothers and sister.
She held various jobs, and her work in the tobacco fields enabled her to send money to her family in Puerto Rico.
[2] Colón Sánchez saved enough money to open her own storefront, "Maria's News Stand," on Albany Avenue in Hartford.
Nearly 150 men gathered at the intersection of Park and Main streets, in order to air their social and economic grievances.
Using the funds from the Hartford Foundation, Colón Sánchez and her colleagues transformed the Spanish Action Coalition into La Casa de Puerto Rico, the community's oldest social service agency.
[1][2] In 1971, Colón Sánchez, with the help of Perry Alan Zirkel, a professor at the University of Hartford, conceived the idea of creating a federally funded teacher recruitment program.
[1] Colón Sánchez, together with Edna Negron Rosario, led the fight for mandatory bilingual education in Hartford.
[1] In 1973, with support from the Democratic Party, the Campaign Committee of the Bilingual Task Force, and a group organized by La Casa de Puerto Rico, Colón Sánchez won a seat on the Hartford Board of Education.
In 1976 Colón Sánchez filed a lawsuit, which she won in 1978, mandating bilingual education throughout the entire Hartford public school system.
So we didn't take her into a lot of neighborhoods ... You had to be practical as you were trying to get her on the school board.Torres won the election, and became the first Puerto Rican to occupy a seat on Hartford's city council.
[4] In addition to being the first Puerto Rican to occupy a seat on Hartford's city council, and the first Hispanic woman elected to the Connecticut General Assembly, Maria Colón Sánchez left behind a lifetime of leadership and community empowerment.
[5] The Connecticut Institute for Community Development (CICD) Puerto Rican Parade, Inc. – Hartford Chapter created the annual "Maria C. Sanchez Award."