When Beatriz Flórez Huertas first set foot in the United States, she arrived with no family, no local contacts, and a steep learning curve about how a city’s public-transport system works. Finding housing, learning the routes, and securing a job were challenges she faced alone, prompting the question, “If you have no relatives here, who will tell you what you need to know?” The answer arrived in the form of strangers willing to share their knowledge, and that generosity sparked a lifelong desire to “pay it forward.” Today, as the Community Liaison for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Flórez Huertas channels that gratitude into concrete assistance for Spanish-speaking residents.
From newcomer to advocate
Flórez Huertas’s personal history fuels her empathy for recent arrivals. She recalls the isolation of navigating a sprawling transit network without any bilingual guides, and she uses those memories to shape the agency’s outreach. During Latine Heritage Month, she partnered with the Office of Racial Equity and Belonging to host a cable-car ride that gathered more than one hundred community members, turning a symbolic journey into a tangible conversation about mobility. By sharing her story, she helps newcomers realize that the hurdles they face are not insurmountable and that the agency is ready to listen.
Her role is fundamentally about building trust face-to-face. Flórez Huertas spends her days meeting one-on-one with local leaders, presenting at neighborhood gatherings, and attending cultural events where she can answer questions in Spanish. Whether she is explaining the spectrum of services SFMTA offers or gathering feedback on street-safety initiatives, she consistently opens the floor for dialogue, knowing that “there are always people who need help with something” in every presentation.
On-the-ground outreach and problem solving
Beyond the classroom-style presentations, Flórez Huertas acts as a practical problem-solver. Small business owners have turned to her for assistance in adjusting loading zones and parking regulations to better serve their customers, while dozens of individuals have enrolled in the agency’s “Fares for Our Future” discount programs through more than fifteen pop-up events she organized. In each case, she describes herself as the “middle person” who translates community needs into agency action, a role that gives her a profound sense of satisfaction.
She also emphasizes the broader social impact of affordable transit. “Not everybody can afford a car or a parking spot,” she says, noting that reliable, low-cost transit is a basic need that enables people to reach school, work, and even leisure spots like a bakery or a dance hall. By helping residents secure discounted fares, she helps them avoid the painful choice between buying breakfast and paying for a ride, a decision she believes should never be forced upon anyone.
Translating messages and shaping culturally relevant resources
Flórez Huertas ensures that vital information reaches the entire Spanish-speaking community through multiple channels. She translates agency web pages, social-media posts, and even records Spanish audio announcements that play inside Muni vehicles citywide. She also staffs interviews on television and radio, cultivating relationships with media outlets to broaden the reach of essential updates. In collaboration with project teams, she tailors materials to be visually intuitive, pairing pictures with translated text so that non-English speakers can quickly grasp the message.
Her input has improved a variety of initiatives, from fare-compliance brochures to pop-up information tables and a dedicated bus tour for the 29 Sunset Improvement Project. By staying attuned to the concerns that arise within the community, she can anticipate questions and craft answers before they become barriers. In her own words, “I try to figure out how to answer the questions that community members and organizations might bring up to us.”
