The first public park named for a Latino in Georgia, Sara J. González Memorial Park in Atlanta’s Westside, is the site of the newest SCAD SERVE Paint Our Parks mural. Artist José Ray, a SCAD SERVE Alumni Ambassador, was brought in to conceptualize a colorful mural to honor the efforts of the park’s namesake, Sara J. González.
In 1960, González fled her home in Cuba with her two young children, and after stints in New York, Miami, North Carolina, and Boston, she eventually found her way to Atlanta. González’ first business idea, a small Cuban diner, produced delicious dishes but her lack of business knowledge hurt the business and it soon closed.
But González was not one to give up so easily. After shuttering the restaurant, she refocused on her commitment to supporting Hispanic immigrants and found a job as a secretary at a Hispanic non-profit agency. In time she rose through the ranks to an executive post at the agency, and was eventually hired by the International Olympic Committee where she oversaw Hispanic community relations during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
While working on the Olympics, González was asked to help a small organization of Hispanic business leaders develop a full-fledged Chamber of Commerce for Hispanics. She began offering seminars to offer education on banking, taxes, bidding contracts, and everything she had learned throughout her time in the states. The organization grew from a small base of members with no full-time help into one of the largest Hispanic Chambers in the country with over 1,000 members today.
González became the president and CEO of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and over the years she helped many new business leaders build their companies and livelihoods here. One day, a Hispanic police officer informed González of an increasingly common scam wherein Hispanic entrepreneurs were being offered startup packages for $1000 each but receiving nothing in return. González hated to see her people being taken advantage of in this way, and she decided to do something about it.
Not far from the Chamber’s headquarters, González created one of the first Hispanic business incubators in the nation, the Hispanic American Center for Academic Development. Offering a variety of educational programs covering the basics of starting a business, imports and exports, working with the banking system, plus cubicles, receptionists, phones, computers, and more, the Center began offering comprehensive support to Hispanic immigrants who wanted to start their own businesses here.
A lifelong changemaker and trailblazer, González passed away in 2008. Ten years later in October 2018 the city debuted the Sara J. González Memorial Park with a keynote speech by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Focused on the values of diversity, community, dignity, family, and heritage, the park features ADA-compliant wheelchair access, an all-abilities playground, a children’s soccer field, a Learning Nook covered education area (the first of its kind in Atlanta), a Unity Plaza honoring Atlanta’s diverse population, a twice-monthly food distribution program, and the Officer Edgar Flores Memorial Learning Garden which opened in October 2019.
González’s granddaughter Paulina de la Valette, a SCAD graphic design alumna, assisted artist José Ray in the conceptualization of this intricate mural design that interweaves her grandmother’s mementos and personal effects with imagery that celebrates her proud Latino heritage.
Born and raised in the Midwest, Ray now calls Savannah home. He creates vibrant and colorful works that resemble lush, rolling landscapes that often blur the lines between representative figural works and abstraction.
Ray’s SCAD SERVE mural was completed earlier this month with the help of a team of volunteers composed of SCAD students, faculty, the community, and González’s family members. The results serve to enliven the park with beautiful art that further cement the Sara J. González Memorial Park as an inspired neighborhood gathering place which offers recreation, community, history, recognition, and accessible fun for all.
