Maritza Cruz has lived in the community of Worcester since 1968; her family was part of the Gran Migración from Puerto Rico in the 1950s, settling originally in New Jersey. She was born in San Sebastián, Puerto Rico, and identifies as a Puerto Rican Boricua and Worcesterite because she considers both Puerto Rico and Worcester home. She graduated from Worcester State University with a B.A. in sociology in .... Cruz is a “warrior for social justice,” having implemented positive change for communities of color. Moreover, throughout her career, she has been helping people gain job skills and access resources. Among the many leadership positions she has held are Director of Latino Leaders of the Future for the United Way of Central Massachusetts and the first female and first member of the Latino community to serve as Director of the Worcester Housing Authority. In 1997 she ran for public office for the first time. Although she did not win a seat on the Worcester City Council, her campaign's impact served as a stepping stone for future Latino leaders to guide them on the path to winning political office in Worcester. Presently, she serves as the Director for Racial and Gender Equity at the YWCA of Central Massachusetts where she continues to fight for social justice and positive social change.

Excerpts from Latino History Project interview with Maritza Cruz, 25 August 201 (interviewer and transcriber, Cynthia Stone)

"I love Worcester, I do. It’s my home, it’s my city. And I always say that [...] when people start criticizing. I’m a big cheerleader for Worcester, cause we have a lot of things and we make where we live at. If you don’t like something, change it. Get involved. Do something about it."

"I saw my mom was part of a group of women, and men, but I always say the majority were women, although unfortunately women don’t always get the credit they deserve, because it always goes to the men. She was part of a group that formed the basis of what was to become a landmark case here in Worcester to bring in bilingual education into Massachusetts... So she was part of that [effort] and it was [--] women with very limited education, some of them didn’t speak English, broken English, and it was quite something to watch these women going up to the State House and facing, with much dignity, and fearless, these politicians up at the State House, saying: “This is what we demand of you. We want what is social justice.” So seeing that, like I said, it just allowed me to think that I could do anything, that if something is wrong, you gather people and you bring them along."

"I believe that when you rise you have to bring up everyone else with you to raise them with you. You’re only as good as the people around you. You’re only as good as that. We have to find people who think [--] the same way, that I’m not going to stand by and allow injustice to happen."

"You’ve got to agitate if you want to make changes, because agitation means that you’re bringing issues that need to be addressed to light and you’re forcing people to acknowledge that there’s a problem here and we need to do something about it."