When Luis Lopez Jr. was a senior at Lanier High School in 2008, a local scholarship helped him go to college.
That scholarship, started by Amelia Fuentes and Isabel and Enrique Sanchez, was funded by people of the barrio on San Antonio’s West Side, and those who bought chocolate cake, empanadas and tamales from them at local festivals and events.
Isabel Sanchez died in 2021 and two years later so did Amelia Fuentes and Enrique Sanchez. The trio dedicated their lives to being education advocates for inner city students. That legacy lives on through the Fuentes-Sanchez Lanier Scholarship Fund Baile, held once a year in the spring at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center.
On Friday, San Antonio took the first step in honoring them.
The Historic West Side Neighborhood Association thought to name an unmarked alley in their memory during a meeting over the summer. The street runs four blocks east to west, right in front of Lanier High School.
Resident Carlos Salazar made the suggestion.
Salazar took the idea to District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo, who on Friday asked the city to name the West Side alley the Fuentes-Sanchez Lane.
Her request extended the process and allowed for community input at an Aug. 8 meeting, where everyone showed support.
Putting a name to the alley would better the public safety of the neighborhood, given that residents often need to call on city services for help in the alley, Castillo told the San Antonio Report. Adding the name makes it easier for officers and city staff to identify where neighbors might need help.
Naming the alley will not require any addresses to change. The street is mostly used for city services like trash pickup, or for kids walking to school every morning or to the park in the afternoon.
District 5 paid the $2,663 fee associated with naming the alley. Next, it’ll go to City Council A session for consideration.
“It needed to be named after somebody who has a stake on the West Side, that did something for the West Side. I call them matriarchs,” said Salazar. “They would work tirelessly to raise funds.”
Graciela Sanchez, director of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center and daughter of Isabel Sanchez, remembers her parents always at school parent-teacher meetings, organizing events for the PTA.
Ruben Fuentes, son of Amelia Fuentes recalled the same thing. He said the small scholarships helped West Side students with application fees for college applications and got Spanish speaking parents involved.
“It was a lot of work, especially at the fundraisers. We would have to chop lettuce and tomato, and the labor of doing all that and then helping out,” he said, joking that students got scholarships but had to work for it. “Mrs. Sanchez would make some good empanadas and menudo and arroz con pollo.”
Eventually they started the Baile, inspired by the trio’s love for dancing.
“They gave scholarships to kids who may not get any other scholarships. They didn’t have to be smart kids, it was average kids they were searching for, kids that wanted to go to college,” Graciela Sanchez said. Then, they’d pick up the checks at Fuentes’ or Sanchez’s home.
Ruben Fuentes said the alley is a good way to honor their work in the community because the scholarships gave the barrio animo, he said.
Lopez remembers picking up his two $500 scholarships at Fuentes’ home. He used the money to purchase a laptop for college at the University of the Incarnate Word. He studied abroad in India and graduated with a degree in history and Asian studies, then went on to pursue a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He’ll soon graduate with a doctorate degree.
“I probably would’ve awkwardly been going to campus computer labs and use the computers there and I wouldn’t have a computer to use at home or at school,” Lopez said after the school day on Thursday.
Being a scholarship recipient encouraged him to apply for scholarships throughout his collegiate career, which has allowed him to continue going to school while teaching.
“There is not a lot of space for female activists and female prominent figures in the community who have invested into the spiritual, physical and mental wellbeing of the barrio here in San Antonio,” he said, referring to Amelia and Isabel. “It would be super awesome that a street be named after these prominent female figures.”
The Lanier Scholarship Fund has granted more than $200,000 to college-bound Lanier graduates over the past 20 years.
