Sally Ann Gonzales was born in Brawley, California and
raised in the Yaqui community of Guadalupe, Arizona with her ten sisters and
brothers. She is married to Pascua Yaqui tribal councilman Luis Gonzales
with whom she has five daughters and 19 grand children. Sally holds a BA in
Elementary Education from Arizona State University and a Masters in
Multicultural Education from the University of Arizona.
In 1992 she was elected to the Pascua Yaqui
Tribal Council and served until 1996 when she was elected to the Arizona
House of Representatives. There she served two terms in the House
representing Legislative District 10 where she sat on the Appropriations
Committee, the Government Operations Committee, and as the ranking member of
the Public Institutions & Universities committee.
A strong proponent for quality education, health care,
and children’s, women’s, and employee rights; Sally sponsored and/or
co-sponsor legislation to improve the life of women and children that made
positive improvements in education and health care for all. Her sponsorship
specifically included, among other areas, legislation for foreign language
instruction, lead poisoning prevention, solar and clean energy incentives,
teacher salaries, maternity benefits, postpartum care, diabetes treatment,
gang prevention, charter schools, and environmental justice.
Before starting her political career, Sally was an
education professional. Since leaving office in 2000, she has continued
within her profession, serving as the Education Director of the Pascua Yaqui
Tribe. Her professional experience includes teaching, teacher training and
administration for Tucson Unified School District, Tempe Elementary Schools,
Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.
At
Arizona State University’s Center for Indian Education
(CIE), Sally served as program manager for a yearlong professional
teacher-training program for twenty Indigenous teachers from southern
Mexico. She was also served as
program manager for the Arizona Tri-Universities for Indian Education
(ATUIE), the first and only consortium in the country dedicated to improving
the condition of American Indian students in higher education.
At the
University of Arizona, Sally
served as coordinator to Manos a la Vida, a
self-intervention research
project
that worked with women with breast cancer within the
Hispanic community in southern Arizona and the border communities of Mexico.
Sally was a board member of the
Pima Prevention Partnership, funded
through the Center of Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) as a grassroots
self-help organization to produce a lasting and significant reduction in
substance abuse in the community by incorporating collaborative skills
building, leadership training, to empower community groups to assume
responsibility for understanding and acting on substance abuse issues within
their own community.
Sally is currently the president of the board of
Guadalupe Affordable Housing Inc. (GAHI), a for-profit corporation
incorporated to conduct real estate development, specifically single and
multi-family affordable housing developments. Its objectives are to promote
the availability of quality and affordable housing for low- to
moderate-income individuals and families.
Throughout her adult life, she has been involved in a
wide range of civic activities to promote the rights of minority
populations, especially Indigenous and Hispanic communities who are the
historical and cultural foundation of Arizona.
