Marisela Ballesteros is a long-standing resident of Gunnison, and now she is the first member of the Cora Indigenous group to be elected to the Gunnison City Council. KUNC host Mike Lyle spoke with The Colorado Sun reporter Michael Booth to learn more about Ballesteros and her goals for the city council.
Born in Montrose, Ballesteros and her family moved to Gunnison, where the largest U.S. population of the Indigenous Cora people are believed to reside, as a young child. The Cora hail from a part of the western coast of Mexico and speak primarily Indigenous languages rather than Spanish. Over the decades, a sizable number of Cora in the U.S. have settled on Colorado's Western Slope.
Ballesteros said a lack of representation for the concerns facing younger populations who want to stay near Gunnison pushed the 26-year-old to run for city council. She wanted to lend a local voice to a wide range of issues her community is facing, such as affordable housing.
Earlier this month, Ballesteros ran unopposed and received 940 votes, successfully electing her to the council. She will be sworn in as a city council member on December 12.
Booth said Ballestero's story is one that is remarkable for the Gunnison Cora community.
"It's really the first time they have decided to put one of their own people forward to speak up beyond city council at a time when there's a lot of issues going on," said Booth. "(Ballesteros) now wants to represent those voices as well as the voices of ethnic people."
Ballesteros currently works as a hair stylist at Salon 144 in Gunnison and has done so since she was eighteen. She knows it's not easy to afford to live in and around Gunnison. According to compensation software and data website Payscale, the median price for a home in Gunnison is just over $504,000 while the average rent is $1,533 per month. Booth said that is one of several topics Ballesteros plans to address in her new role.
"A lot of people who work in service industries in the Gunnison area know it's both the gateway to fairly wealthy areas like Crested Butte, but also a gateway to mountain ranching and farming communities on the Western Slope," said Booth. "It's very hard for people to find housing that they can afford."
Booth said it's an issue Ballesteros will use as motivational tool, not just for her Cora community but for everybody living in Gunnison.
