Cesar Chavez Foundation Extends Its Reach Beyond the Fields to Offer Affordable Housing, Educational Radio and Academic Support
"My father (Cesar Chavez) believed that workers just aren't workers. He knew that at the workplace, there was a whole set of problems that workers had -- working conditions, benefits, immigration reform and lobbying.
"But he also understood that when workers came home from a hard day's work in the fields and pesticide exposure, they went home to a whole different set of problems -- the lack of affordable housing, health care for children and educational opportunities," Paul Chavez, the son of the Mexican-American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, Cesar Chavez told the Latin Post.
As the President and Chairman of the Cesar Chavez Foundation, Paul Chavez, the sixth child (out of eight children) of Cesar and Helen Chavez, has spent his entire life with the movement. During his childhood, he recalls making crosses out of the very grapevines that his parents rallied and protested beside. Now a father of four, he says when his children eat grapes they take on a whole new meaning.
Prior to his work with the Chavez foundation, he served with the United Farm Workers of America as a union organizer, contract negotiator, political director, lobbyist in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., and director of marketing operations. He was also a personal assistant to his father.
Paul Chavez "has spearheaded the impressive expansion of the organization his father founded in the 1960s under a different name, significantly impacting the lives of hundreds of thousands of Latinos and other poor working families."
"The work of the Chavez Foundation works on social issues," he added. "Right now we do affordable housing and we house 20,000 families in four states in the Southwest."
The non-profit charitable organization's mission capatures the essence of the labor leader by "addressing dilemmas confronting poor working people outside the workplace by preserving, promoting and applying the legacy of Cesar Chavez.
"Under Paul Chavez's leadership, the foundation has enjoyed unprecedented growth in its four core programmatic areas. It has built and manages high-quality affordable housing with more than 30 communities serving nearly 5,000 low- and very low-income families and seniors in four states."
Combining the cause with the love of Mexican and Latin music as a whole, the Cesar Chavez Foundation also operates Radio Campesina, a nine-station Spanish-language educational radio network reaching 500,000 daily listeners in four states.
"First we play entertaining music to get listeners, but then once people are listening, then we fill it with important educational programing and then there's always a call to action," Paul Chavez explained. "We'll talk about problems with immigration reform and we'll say, 'this what you can do to get problems solved.'"
The Chavez foundation runs after-school tutoring programs for underserved students. And it works to preserve Cesar Chavez's legacy through the National Chavez Center based at La Paz in the Tehachapi Mountain town of Keene, Calif. where Cesar lived and worked his last quarter century, and where he is buried.
"We have academic programs, we have after-school tutoring programs, we have teachers who work with kids to help with English language, Algebra and Language Arts," Paul Chavez reiterated. "We're running summer schools for school districts who can't afford it and we have scholarships in Arizona. We work with the National Chavez Center that works with people like Diego (Luna) and the National Parks to tell my father's story."
According to the Cesar Chavez Foundation, numerous communities across America pass on the Chavez torch by conducting annual observances and recognitions or have named every manner of public place after Cesar, including six states that celebrate his birthday as an official holiday, including California, Colorado, Michigan and Texas.
The United Farm Workers and the Cesar Chavez Foundation are supporting the grassroots efforts of the Cesar Chavez National Holiday Coalition, through a powerful petition, urging President Obama and the U.S. Congress to make Cesar's March 31 birthday a federal holiday
Cesar Chavez Biopic
The upcoming film, Cesar Chavez (due out in theaters on March 28), which won the Audience Award at SXSW, tells the story of the iconic labor leader's fight to unionize farm workers, the inception of the United Farm Workers of America and highlights their fight to have better pay and conditions for the laborers who pick grapes in the fields of California. Michael Peña plays Chavez in the movie, America Ferrera plays his wife, Helen Chavez, Rosario Dawson plays Dolores Huerta, labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the National Farmworkers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers and John Malcovich plays a farm owner.
On March 17, the Cesar Chavez NYC premiere screened at the AMC Empire 25 in New York City and was hosted by The Robert F. Kennedy Family, Kerry Kennedy and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.
In attendance were human rights activists Kerry Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Hispanic Federation, the United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez, the first Mexican-American New York City Council member Carlos Menchaca as well as cast members Ferrera and Dawson, director Diego Luna and producer Pablo Cruz, among many others.
Check out our slideshow of the Cesar Chavez NYC Premiere with Paul Chavez, Rosario Dawson, Diego Luna, America Ferrera, Carlos Menchaca and more!
Luna's motivation for making the film was to "keep the legacy of Cesar Chavez alive and to make sure every person in this country is aware of their history," he explained.
"Film makes stars and heroes... these are the people who feed us, they should be celebrated and recognized, and they shouldn't struggle so much to feed their own families -- and we can be part of that," added Luna, who spent four and a half years making the film.
On March 19, the film was screened at the White House, and it will be officially released in theaters on March 28, 2014.
Check out the Latin Post's Cesar Chavez Coverage:
Cesar Chavez NYC Movie Premiere Evokes Pride from Son Paul Chavez, Who Carries on Legacy
Diego Luna on Directing 'Cesar Chavez' That's Impacting Washington: "It's Been Like a Dream"
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