The Palacio Podcast
Tracy Colunga: You are Stronger than You think You are
Tracy Colunga, Director of the City of Long Beach Innovation Team (i-team), has an incredible and inspiring backstory. It is a story of immigrants, multiculturalism, middle America, hardship, and the power of courage and perseverance. The daughter of an Irish-American father and a Mexican-American mother, Colunga grew up in South Bend, Indiana.
“I am the granddaughter of migrant farmworkers. My mom’s side of the family came to this country a little over a hundred years ago. I will say that I am very American in the sense that I was born and raised here. But Mexican American because my family has very strong Mexican values.”
Tracy Colunga, Director, Innovation Team (i-team)
Those values are, Tracy Colunga explains, of a strong work ethic and loyalty to family and community. Colunga revealed to PalacioMagazine.com a life history of growing up fast to take care of a family sometimes beset with tragedy and pain but ultimately, she and her family would not only survive but succeed.
The loving and early life of Tracy Colunga
Tracy Colunga is one four children, three girls, and one boy. Raised by a single mom with a strong work ethic, the experience would shape her life.
“She depended on me to help keep the house clean, cook food. So, as I look back and see myself at fifth grade, sixth grade, in middle school, taking care of my younger siblings.”
Colunga grew up in a poor neighborhood. She didn’t know anyone who had gone to college but that didn’t stop her from being an honor student and dreaming.
“From an early age, my mom even says this, that I was always like ‘I’m going to go to college someday’.”
She would later be the first in her family to go to college. But, the path there would not be easy. The demands of the family would always keep intruding into her dream. Her oldest sister would be taken captive by crack cocaine. The voice of Tracy Colunga cracked with emotion as she recalled the story.
“My sister was addicted to crack for ten years and ran the streets and stole from my mom. And my mom had to kick her out and she would come back and again, I became that pillar for my mom and little brothers and sisters to make sure they were kind of shielded from the lifestyle that my older sister was living.”
Her oldest sister would eventually change her life around, become clean and sober, and find an amazing career and life. There would be more challenges later including a younger sister who would run with a tough crowd and Colunga would have to go hunting for her in some tough neighborhoods.
Tracy Colunga makes a difficult decision
Growing up fast, taking care of her family, and working to live her dream of college resulted in Tracy Colunga discovering that she was stronger than she thought she was. But, she had her own dreams and she wanted to pursue them; even if it meant leaving her family and community behind.
“I got accepted to UCLA [grad school]and I left my hometown because I knew that all those experiences were dragging me down.”
When Colunga, her mother, and stepfather drove across the state line into California, she recounts breaking down and crying.
“Because I knew that I was never going back to Indiana. But, it was also a freeing moment to truly become who I’m meant to be in this life.”
And we’re all grateful for that decision.
Tracy Colunga in Long Beach
Fast forward to Long Beach where Colunga started her career with the City of Long Beach as the Early Childhood Education Coordinator in 2006. She would later go on to serve as City’s Neighborhood Relations Officer working on the development of Safe Long Beach Violence Prevention Plan, the City’s Language Access Policy implementation and My Brother’s Keeper Long Beach Local Action Plan implementation. Colunga was also busy overseeing the Long Beach Human Relations Commission, the Long Beach Gang Reduction and Intervention Program, and administering the U.S. Department of Justice Weed and Seed Grant.
Tracy Colunga was named Director of the City’s Innovation Team (i-team) by City Manager Patrick West in 2016. The i-team was made possible by a three-year, $3 million grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2015.
“Since its inception, the Long Beach i-team has attracted approximately $750,000 in outside funding to support economic development initiatives such as the City’s new business portal for entrepreneurs BizPort, the Harvey Milk Park Project, and the Economic Development Blueprint project in partnership with the City’s Economic Development Commission.”
Please visit www.longbeach.gov/iteam or follow them on Twitter @iteam_longBeach and Facebook.
Tracy Colunga holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN. She was a part-time lecturer in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs for five years and recently joined the faculty as a lecturer at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) Masters of Social Work Program. Find out more about Tracy Colunga HERE
