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A Legacy of Service Virtual Video Series

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Join the Cesar Chavez Foundation for “A Legacy of Service,” a virtual series bringing together experts, thought leaders, and activists to learn about the values Cesar Chavez epitomized. 

Episode 3 premiering March 25, 2022: Executive Vice President of Housing and Economic Development Fund Alfredo Izmajtovich in conversation with Chief Operating Officer Manuel H. Bernal

Cesar Chavez said migrant farm workers were among the original homeless. He and his family endured miserable farm labor camps and often slept under bridges or trees by roadsides while following California’s migrant trails in the late 1930s and early ‘40s. Cesar made affordable housing for the poor a mission of the National Farm Workers Service Center Inc., now known as the Cesar Chavez Foundation. Chavez Foundation Chief Operations Officer Manuel Bernal and Executive Vice President of Housing and Economic Development (HED) Alfredo Izmajtovich discuss the history of the HED Fund and the long-term effort to build wealth and lasting change by directing economic investment into underserved communities, fostering new initiatives that encourage entrepreneurship, educational development, and community service.

Episode 2: Executive Vice President of Education Dr. Celia Garcia Alvarado in conversation with Riverside County Deputy Superintendent of Schools Dr. Edwin Gomez

Cesar Chavez believed that the needs of the people went beyond their workday and understood that farmworkers lacked access to high-quality education for their children. Today, the Cesar Chavez Foundation’s Education Fund is dedicated to building a just society by educating the hearts and minds of children through culturally responsive, diverse products and services in under-resourced communities. Tune in Monday, September 13, to learn more about the work of the Education Fund and a new program in partnership with the Riverside County Office of Education.

 

Premiered March 31, 2021: Paul Chavez In Conversation with Teresa Romero 

Cesar Chavez Foundation President Paul Chavez and UFW President Teresa Romero discuss Cesar Chavez’s bold vision for a strong farmworkers’ union as well as services that would support that union by building communities up beyond the workplace. Learn about Cesar’s ambitious vision, and how half a century later, the lasting and ongoing effects of his work continue to transcend even his original aim.

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President Biden’s Oval Office displaying Cesar Chavez bust

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Cesar Chavez Foundation sends sculpture to White House from Cesar E. Chavez National Monument

 

Keene, Calif.—A bronze bust of civil rights and farm labor leader Cesar Chavez is on display in President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s Oval Office. The 9 by 22” bronze sculpture on a granite pedestal by artist Paul A. Suarez had been on display in the Visitor Center of the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, the 398th unit of the National Park Service (NPS). This is where Chavez lived and labored his last quarter century and where he is buried alongside his wife, Helen, in the Tehachapi Mountain town of Keene, Calif. southeast of Bakersfield.

 

The President-elect’s transition team requested the artwork for the Oval Office and it was shipped to the White House by the Cesar Chavez Foundation, which through its arm, the National Chavez Center (NCC), helps administer the national monument in a partnership with the park service.

 

“Placing a bust of my father in the Oval Office symbolizes the hopeful new day that is dawning for our nation,” said Paul F. Chavez, Chavez’s middle son and president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation. “That isn’t just because it honors my dad, but more importantly because it represents faith and empowerment for an entire people on whose behalf he fought and sacrificed.”

 

“The most important quality about Cesar Chavez I wanted to convey with this sculpture was his compassion,” affirmed the artist, Paul Suarez. “It was created 25 years ago, relying heavily on research and input from people who were close to him.”

 

The historic Keene property, encompassing 187 acres, is managed collaboratively by the National Chavez Center and National Park Service. It includes three acres NCC donated to the park service to create the national monument when it was dedicated by President Obama during a ceremony in 2012. The Cesar Chavez Foundation and United Farm Workers are also headquartered on the grounds.

 

Suarez, 62, is a native of the west Central Valley farm town of Hanford, Calif. who now resides with his family in Tennessee. Self-taught, he has worked in bronze and stone as well as painted on canvas.

Students from the Salandini Villa Si Se Puede Learning Center present a Cesar Chavez Day play

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Every year students from Si Se Puede Learning Centers across California and the Southwest choose a service learning project in honor of Cesar Chavez Day. Students from Salandini Villa Apartments in Parlier, Calif. chose to reenact a play inspired by Cesar Chavez. They spent months rehearsing their lines and building a set and props in preparation for their big performance. Sadly, due to the coronavirus outbreak all in-person programs were canceled. However, the show must go on! Enjoy an animation version of their production.