Francisca Flores; Latina Activist, Journalist

Francisca Flores, 82, leader of Latina journalists and feminists. She founded the Carta Editorial publication. In 1970, concerned about the exclusion of women from the Chicano movement, Flores founded the Comision Femenil Mexicana Nacional. The organization, whose first act was to create the Chicana Service Action Center to serve working, low-income Latinas, sponsors community service programs to develop leadership among Latinas. Along with training, Flores said she wanted the organization to instill self-confidence in characteristically deferential Latinas so that they could obtain jobs and succeed on their own. On April 27 in San Diego of a heart attack.