Women in March I of IV
There may be a lot of bad things you can say about high rents, but thankfully, it was Washington state’s high rents that brought Pueblo native Sarah Martinez back home to the city where she grew up. Coming home also helped launch the freshman city council woman’s political career. But more than that, it was the time away that told her that Pueblo was where she needed to be.
The 28-year-old Martinez, elected in November, is the youngest person ever to hold a council seat. It’s a job, she swears, she never imagined or expected to have. In high school, Martinez remembered, “I was the one who lacked confidence, the one in the corner all by myself.” But being the quiet one focusing on grades also helped her graduate in the top ten of her class. But, as they say, that was then.
Martinez got more than twenty-one thousand votes in the November election, winning by “the largest margin of vic- tory (of any council candidate).” Now in city government, she has big plans for the next four years. Foremost is charting a course that will both ensure responsible growth and, at the same time, make Pueblo a better place to live.
Besides her new job as Pueblo’s District 3 council mem- ber, Martinez also has a full-time job running the county health department’s Youth Substance Abuse program. The job targets one of the city’s and state’s growing public health issues. “Colorado is the highest in the nation for youth vaping usage,” she said. “We (Pueblo) are also the second highest county for youth marijuana use.” Coincidentally, her department is funded by money generated by the state’s marijuana sales tax.
In college, Martinez earned degrees in psychology and biomedical sciences. Her undergraduate degree is from CSU Fort Collins, her graduate degree from Western Washington State University. Both degrees, she said, are tailor made for her work at the health department. “I get the chance to hear from young people everyday on what their needs are…what would prevent them from using substances.”
Her other job, city councilwoman, she chuckled, “Is a bit like drinking out of a firehose.” Since being sworn into office Martinez has spent hours meeting with all the (city’s) depart- ment heads and the mayor’s office. She’s also gone over the city’s budget “with a fine-tooth comb.” “I’m hungry, excited and know the potential for Pueblo and where we’re going.”
Martinez council ‘to-do’ list is long, eclectic but more than that, she said, achievable. One high priority for her district is addressing an issue plaguing the entire country, and especially towns like Pueblo. Pueblo, she said, is a “child-care desert,” an issue that hampers more than young families. It stifles economic development. Martinez said working families shouldn’t “have to choose between a full-time job and staying home” to care for children. She sees a day when Pueblo has “as many childcare centers as possible.”
It doesn’t stop there. Like a lot of Colorado’s cities and towns, Pueblo’s roads, she said, could use some attention and the business community could use a little more help as it recovers from the pandemic. But as much as anything, the freshman councilwoman is adamant about making the city’s quality of life a high priority for both the city’s families and its young people.
Making Pueblo a more vibrant city would incentivize students at Pueblo Community College and CSU-Pueblo to stick around instead of taking their degrees and leaving the city. The answer to that, she said, begins with becoming a family friendly city.
When Martinez was growing up, she couldn’t wait to leave Pueblo for somewhere else. Fort Collins and Washington state gave her that opportunity. But after moving back, she saw a different place than the one she left. “I got more entrenched in the community,” she said. Walking from home to her, at first, part-time job at the health department “I would notice things about the neighborhood and could talk to people.” She said learning about the city from an adult perspective was an eye-opening experience. “There were so many things hap- pening in Pueblo that I didn’t know growing up.”
While Washington’s high rents and her student loans made Pueblo more and more attractive after graduate school, it was also knowing that there would also be safe harbor with the person she called her role model. That would be her mother, Luanne Martinez. Her mother was a single parent and, as long as she can remember, an inspiration. “She instilled in me giving back and leaving your world better than you found it.” Her mom also stressed the value of “being a good community member.” The lessons were cornerstones in her campaign.
But despite her relative youth—she’s only a decade out of high school—Martinez is already looking to use her forum as a launch pad to inspire those younger than her and especially Latinas.
Martinez credits a luncheon she attended as a high school sophomore and seeing former Colorado State Senator Angela Jiron as the keynote speaker. “It was the first time that I remember seeing a person looking literally just like me in a position of power.” She was mesmerized by the way Jiron worked the room at that country club luncheon. Jiron, she said, planted the seed. “When I was planning a run for office, I kept going back to that moment.”
With a sparkling new bully pulpit, Martinez wants to let Puebloans and the whole state know what a special place her town is. It’s something she, herself, is learning every day. As an example, she sites Lake Pueblo, a fifteen minute drive from home. “I literally never went,” she laughed. “The fact that we have a state park that’s accessible and afford- able is fantastic.” It’s just one more thing to share about her hometown.
