Plaza Ysabel “Mac” Ortiz II is CCF’s second project in the City of El Monte and honors 19-year-old native of El Monte killed during the Korean War. In 2019, he was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
Plaza Ysabel “Mac” Ortiz II provides 53 units of 100% affordable housing and community services, including a Si Se Puede Learning Center, Chavez Foundation’s flagship afterschool program for K-5 students, residential services spaces, a recreational meeting space, and conference and meeting rooms.
Marlee Martinez, who grew up in El Monte and has recently returned from the high desert, now lives in Plaza Ortiz II. She shares how relocating to Plaza Ortiz has significantly transformed her life and her family’s.
In her own words:
“Living in Plaza Ortiz has positively changed my family’s life. Our new home has brought us closer together and provided great educational and healthcare opportunities. The community is welcoming, and the secure apartments give us peace of mind. Having my mother close by has been a great support. Moving here has allowed me to focus on my studies and has brought us new opportunities and support. I highly recommend Plaza Ortiz to anyone looking for a welcoming community, better educational opportunities, and improved healthcare access.”
Watch the video below to hear from Marlee and learn how the Chavez Foundation inspires and transforms communities through affordable housing.
This summer marks the 50th anniversary of Agbayani Village. As we celebrate, we remember the significance of this historic location.
Just outside Delano, California lies a testament to the enduring spirit of solidarity, courage, and the fight for justice. Paolo Agbayani Village, once a beacon of hope for Filipino farm workers, remains a poignant reminder of the struggles and triumphs of those who came before us and the pivotal role played by the Delano Manongs (respected elders) in shaping the course of the farm labor movements in the United States.
The summer of 1974 marked a significant milestone. More than 3,000 people gathered to dedicate Agbayani Village. The first affordable housing complex was named after Paolo Agbayani, a Filipino farm worker and United Farm Workers member who died of a heart attack on the picket line during the Delano Grape Strike in 1967.
The Birth of a Movement: The Delano Grape Strike
On September 8, 1965, Filipino American vineyard workers, members of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee led by Larry Itliong, walked out on strike against Delano-area table and wine grape growers, protesting years of poor pay and conditions. The Filipinos quickly asked Cesar Chavez, who led the mostly Latino farm workers union, the National Farm Workers Association, to join their walkouts.
Decorations and a sign that reads “Mabuhay Agbayani Village, 1965 – 1972,” courtesy of Walter P. Reuther Library Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs.
Cesar Chavez and the NFWA leaders believed it would be years before their fledgling union was ready for major field strikes. But they also knew growers historically pitted the races against each other to break unions and crush walkouts. Cesar’s union voted to join the Filipino workers’ picket lines on Mexican Independence Day, September 16, 1965. The two unions merged in 1966 to form the UFW. Solidarity between the races was a key factor in the success of the 1965-1970 Delano strike and the emergence of the UFW as the nation’s first enduring farm worker union.
Paolo Agbayani: A Symbol of Sacrifice
Paolo Agbayani’s untimely death on the picket line underscored the gravity of the worker’s plight. In honor of his sacrifice, what today is the Chavez Foundation built a Filipino farm worker whose untimely death on the picket lines underscored the gravity of the workers’ plight. In honor of his sacrifice, the National Farm Workers Service Center, now known as the Cesar Chavez Foundation, established the Paolo Agbayani Retirement Village in 1974. Agbayani Village wasn’t just a housing complex; it was a sanctuary for those who had given their all to the movement, with 57 men and one woman as its first occupants.
Filipino Farm Workers gather to plan the construction of Agbayani Village in 1972. Photo Credit: Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives Of Labor And Urban Affairs, Wayne State University
Over the years, Agbayani Village evolved into something more. It has become a vibrant hub of cultural and educational exchanges, welcoming visitors and scholars keen on understanding the intricacies of the Filipinos’ immigration and their heroic labor history in America. Through these interactions, the village fostered a deeper appreciation for the sacrifices and achievements of the Filipino farm workers and their allies.
Agbayani Village was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2011, ensuring future generations would recognize and learn from the perseverance and unity these brave Filipino farm workers demonstrated. It continues serving as a beacon of hope and a reminder of the power of collective action and the enduring legacy of Delano Manongs.
Agbayani Village will celebrate its 50th anniversary on October 19, 2024, with celebrations planned during Delano’s Philippine Weekend at Forty Acres, an annual gathering of the Filipino community in Delano. Stay tuned for more on this historic event.
The Cesar Chavez Foundation (CCF), the City of El Monte, and stakeholders including Boston Financial, JP Morgan Chase, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development, celebrated the grand opening of Plaza Ysabel “Mac” Ortiz II, a new affordable housing community for low-income families in El Monte, California.
Plaza Ysabel “Mac” Ortiz II is CCF’s second project in the City of El Monte and honors a 19-year-old native of El Monte killed during the Korean War. It is the second property commemorating the young soldier, whose remains were returned nearly 70 years after being reported missing in action.
In attendance, El Monte Mayor Jessica Ancona remarked, “One of the things that warms my heart is the addition to the beautiful housing is a Si Se Puede Learning Center. The commitment to families and children is one of the missions of the Cesar Chavez Foundation and one the council values here in the City of El Monte—providing a brighter future for children and families. Families don’t have to go elsewhere for their children to receive additional support by having those opportunities within this development.”
Plaza Ysabel “Mac” Ortiz II provides 53 units of 100% affordable housing and community services, including a Si Se Puede Learning Center, Chavez Foundation’s flagship afterschool program for K-5 students, spaces for residential services, a recreational meeting space, conference and meeting rooms. The property also features a new mural by artist John Park, “Celebración,” paying homage to the city’s farm worker history and Latino culture.
Marlee Martinez, who currently resides in Plaza Ortiz II and was raised in El Monte, has recently moved back from the high desert. She commented, “That’s the whole point of affordable housing…it allows people to thrive in the communities they grew up in and continue to do so. It has been very helpful for my family, as we are finally close together.”
Plaza Ysabel “Mac” Ortiz II is CCF’s second project in the Main Street Specific Plan corridor in the City of El Monte. CCF’s first project, Plaza Ysabel “Mac” Oritz, is located east of the new development at 10950 Railroad Street and provides 53 units of affordable housing for veterans and families.
Mexican-Filipino-American labor activist Lorraine Agtang reflects on the significance of Larry Itliong Unity Park.
I am one of the last surviving Filipino grape strikers who walked out of Delano, Calif. vineyards on Sept. 8, 1965, when Larry Itliong helped lead those historic walkouts. My six siblings and I lived with our parents for years in the same farm labor camp where most of us were born outside Delano. I was 13 when the strike started.
Thus began an epic American civil and labor rights struggle, and Larry Itliong is increasingly celebrated as a landmark figure and as a tough and relentless Filipino American labor organizer and community leader. His Oct. 25 birthday is marked as a special day under state law in California. He is acclaimed in books, films, schools, and now a musical. Larry is finally being honored with the grand opening on May 11 of a park named for him in Delano, where he and the Filipino grape strikers started the five-year-long grape strike and boycott.
The park, Larry Itliong Unity Park, is aptly named. It signifies the solidarity between the races he and the other Filipino grape strikers belonging to the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee initiated by turning to the largely Latino National Farm Workers Association led by Cesar Chavez, and asking them to join their picket lines. Growers historically used the races to break each other’s strikes. So that racial unity was key to the walkouts’ success and the emergence of America’s first enduring farm worker union, the United Farm Workers, the result of a merger of the Filipino and Latino unions in 1966.
Larry’s lifetime of activism predated Delano in 1965. After immigrating from the Philippines at age 15 in 1929, he migrated up and down the West Coast toiling in fields and canaries. His storied organizing career spanned from the 1930s through the 1960s.
Most Filipino members of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee could not marry because of California’s racist anti-miscegenation law. My family was an exception. My father, Platon Agtang, married my mother, Lorenza Agtang, a Mexican. Larry and my father were called “Manongs”—older, respected ones who helped build the union movement in the fields.
My father was a loyal union member who never broke the strike during its five years. With seven kids to feed, he returned to migrant farm work, laboring as far north as Stockton.
By the time the strike and boycott convinced table grape growers to sign their first UFW contracts in 1970, most Filipino grape strikers were too old for field labor. Without families, they had no decent places to live.
A beautiful adobe-brick Mission-style affordable housing community, Agbayani Village was for the Delano Manongs and other retired or displaced Filipino farm workers. I was the first manager. We went as far as Salinas and Stockton to recruit the initial residents. There, elderly Filipino brothers lived the rest of their years in dignity and security. They had a community kitchen with a Filipino menu, a recreation room, garden, and access to the adjacent medical clinic and social services.
When California’s farm labor law passed in 1975, I was a UFW organizer, practicing lessons about racial solidarity learned from Cesar, Larry and the other Manongs. I organized farm workers at Delano grape ranches who were Filipinos, Arabs, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans.
Larry Itliong, Cesar Chavez, and the other Filipino and Latino leaders of the UFW brought together the two races and cultures. I was a mestiza, of mixed race, Filipino and Mexican. Because Filipinos and Latinos united in one union, for the first time in my life I felt whole as a person grounded in both communities. That’s partly why the UFW succeeded while other unions failed for 80 years to organize farm workers.
We can never forget Larry Itliong, Platon Agtang, and the Filipino workers who started the grape strike. They helped found an extraordinary movement and union that continues fighting for farm workers seven decades later.
On Oct. 19, around Larry’s birthday, we will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Agbayani Village. The Filipino Community of Delano is also staging its Filipino Weekend celebration then at the Forty Acres. Please join us in marking these historic events.
About Lorraine Agtang
Lorraine Agtang, a participant in the 1965 Delano Grape Strike at just 13, later became the first Paulo Agbayani Retirement Village manager and has been a lifelong activist in the farm worker movement. She played a crucial role in organizing diverse farm workers for union elections in 1975, continuously honoring the legacy of the Manongs.
The annual Cesar Chavez Legacy Awards ceremony was held on April 4, 2024, at the beautiful Vibiana in downtown Los Angeles. The event brought together leaders from various sectors, including business, government, labor, and education, to commemorate the life and work of Cesar Chavez. In addition to honoring Cesar’s life and legacy, the Legacy Awards celebrate those who exemplify excellence and commitment to advocacy and community.
The inaugural Taste of Avenida Cesar Chavez made its debut at this year’s Legacy Awards. Inspired by a movement and legacy that endure well beyond the fields and into America’s largest cities, this unique culinary experience pays homage to the people and businesses along the street that bears the name—Avenida Cesar Chavez.
2024 HONOREES
Cástulo de la Rocha, President and CEO of AltaMed Health Services, was recognized for his unwavering commitment to expanding access to healthcare in underserved communities. His passion for social justice has driven his professional and personal pursuits, significantly impacting health service accessibility.
Jane Fonda, a stellar actress and fervent activist, was among the distinguished honorees. With a legacy of advocacy that spans decades, Fonda’s work ranges from supporting Indigenous peoples’ rights and economic justice to LGBTQ rights, gender equality, and, more recently, leading efforts against climate change through Fire Drill Fridays and the Jane Fonda Climate PAC.
Robert Rivas, Speaker of the California State Assembly, was honored for his dedication to serving the most vulnerable. Inspired by his grandfather, a labor activist, Rivas’s journey from teacher and firefighter to a historic Assembly Speaker is a testament to his commitment to public service.
The legacy awards included Julián Castro, the former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the new CEO of the Latino Community Foundation, whodelivered the keynote address, andCristela Alonzo, an acclaimed actor, and comedian known for her unique blend of humor and insight, hosted the ceremony. Her role as the evening’s host added a special touch to the celebration, highlighting the achievements of the honorees and the legacy of Cesar Chavez.
Check out our video highlighting the night’s events!