Photo by David Engelman, 2025
Photo by David Engelman, 2025
Luz Colon (d. 2003) was an advocate for new immigrants in Queens. Born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, she grew up in East Harlem and later moved to Queens. She graduated from John Jay College and served as the executive director of the Community Conciliation Network, a not-for-profit organization in Corona, and as the vice president of the Sociedad Puertorriqueña de Queens.
In 1997, she became the director of the mayor’s Queens citizenship and immigration office upon its opening, and served in that role until her sudden death from a brain aneurysm in 2003. Luz Colon Place, at the corner of Baxter Avenue and Layton Street, was co-named in her honor in 2006. The street name marks the spot where Colon set up her “Citizenship Van” in the 1990s, from which she helped thousands of immigrants through the naturalization process.
Albor Ruiz, “Luz Colon Lives on in so Many Hearts,” New York Daily News, January 28, 2003
Christina Santucci, “Rename Street for Immigrant Advocate Luz Colon,” QNS, August 3, 2006