She founded the LARASA nonprofit organization in 1964 "to lead and influence change to improve the quality of life for Latinos through advocacy, capacity building, and education.
She also continues to help with issues on civil rights, political campaigns and consulting with companies and organizations on developing multicultural relations programs.
[1] When she was three years old, the Baca family moved to Greeley, Colorado, a community that allowed segregated churches, theaters, and business establishments.
After receiving her BA in political science in 1962,[3] Baca-Barragán was recruited to work as an editorial assistant for a trade union newspaper in Washington DC.
[3] In 1966, Baca worked for the Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks and was encouraged to help organize the Huelga Committee to support the farmworkers' movement.
[1] Shortly after, in 1967, she was recruited to work for President Lyndon Johnson's administration as a public information officer for a White House Interagency Committee [1][3] about Mexican Americans.
Shortly after, she opened a public relations business in Adams County after returning to Colorado, where her professional experiences blossomed into her political career.
[3] She worked on civil rights campaigns, organized committees[4] and she was also the executive director of the Southwest Council of La Raza, which she received a $600,000 grant to address the education and economic issues of Mexican-Americans in urban areas.
She also participated voluntarily in Escuela deGuadalupe and Beginning Experiences [4] and was chief executive officer of Sierra Baca Systems, a management consulting firm specializing in motivational presentations, multi-cultural leadership, and diversity training.
As a freshman legislator in the House of Representatives from Colorado, Baca-Barragán broke an old rule of seniority system which imposed a "watch and wait" attitude of seasonal first.
Baca-Barragán also gladly shared her extensive foreign affairs experience as a participant and panelist to major international conferences in Colombia, Mexico, the USSR, Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Canada, Belgium, and West Germany.
After the long campaign Baca-Barragán retired from public office and became President of Sierra Baca Systems, a consulting firm specializing in program development and evaluation, leadership training, analysis of emission, and motivational presentations.
[2] Polly Baca met her future husband, Miguel Barragan, a Chicano activist and former priest, in the National Council of La Raza in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1968.