Mission educator’s legacy honored with street designation
Long before her name appeared on a Mission District street sign, Dr. Carlota Texidor del Portillo would walk along 24th Street encouraging young people to go back to school.
Her daughter, Elena Asturias, remembers her approaching young men and asking, “What are you doing wasting your time here?” Del Portillo would urge them to get an education because, Asturias recalls her mother saying, they had “a destiny that is greater than you know.”
That commitment was honored on September 12, when community members, educators, students and relatives gathered outside City College of San Francisco’s Mission Campus for the unveiling of Carlota Texidor del Portillo Way. The commemorative designation covers Bartlett Street between 21st and 22nd Streets.
Del Portillo, an educator and civic leader originally from Fajardo, Puerto Rico, played a central role in establishing the Mission Campus, and spent years connecting the neighborhood’s Latino and immigrant communities to educational opportunities.
She said she was surprised and pleased by the honor, though she remained modest about her contributions that led to the designation. Asked what students should remember when they see her name, del Portillo said, “That all things are possible.”
Asturias said her mother considered the campus her “fifth daughter,” in addition to her four human children. Del Portillo would arrive at the campus at dawn and remain until the last student had left, Asturias said.
“She was committed to the success of every single student here,” Asturias continued. “That’s what we’re honoring today: caring about other people, ensuring that our community does better.”
Former Mission Campus Dean Jorge Bell said del Portillo was his mentor, and that she encouraged him to complete his master’s degree. He called the designation especially significant because public spaces and institutions have historically been less likely to bear the names of women of color.
Bell said it was appropriate that the stretch of Bartlett Street now bears del Portillo’s name, because the original campus entrance stood at 106 Bartlett. Generations of neighborhood residents entered there to learn English, earn GEDs and pursue career training.
“Education pretty much saved my life,” Bell said. The new street name, he added, should motivate future community leaders to continue empowering San Francisco’s Latinx and immigrant residents.
Del Portillo’s work continues through Friends of the Mission Campus, an organization she helped establish to raise scholarship funds. Mission Campus Dean Dr. Gregoria Cahill said its scholarships support high school graduates, students earning certificates and those transferring to four-year universities.
Student Juan José Urrutia said del Portillo’s leadership shows students that individuals can create meaningful change. “We can all make a difference,” Urrutia said.
Del Portillo’s granddaughter, Lucia Paniagua, remembers another side of the public figure: a loving grandmother who knitted, sewed, made crafts and brought the family together for Sunday dinners.
“The woman you see out in the world making an impact is the same that you get at home,” Paniagua said.
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who helped sponsor the street designation, said maintaining the college’s Free City program, which provides zero-cost tuition for all city residents, is one way San Francisco can continue del Portillo’s mission of expanding access.
For Asturias, her mother’s legacy is captured by the mural at the Mission Campus entrance, which declares, “El futuro es nuestro” — the future is ours.
