Cesar Chavez Foundation – Cesar Chavez Foundation

Honoring Cesar Chavez: The Legacy & Impact of the Cesar Chavez Foundation

February 25, 2025, by CCF

As we celebrate Cesar Chavez Month, we reflect on his lasting legacy and how his work continues through the Cesar Chavez Foundation (CCF). Founded to uphold his vision of justice and empowerment, the foundation focuses on education, affordable housing, media, and preserving Cesar’s legacy—ensuring his mission thrives for generations.

Education Fund: Educating Hearts & Minds

In the 1960s, Chávez and his colleagues created the Huelga School in Delano, providing farmworkers’ children with access to education during the grape strike. Later, he established a Montessori school at La Paz for movement staff families.

The Education Fund continues this commitment today by providing diverse, culturally responsive programs in under-resourced communities. Its goal is to impact one million students by 2028.

Housing & Economic Development: Building Stronger Communities

Chavez often called migrant farmworkers “the original homeless.” Having experienced this struggle firsthand, he prioritized affordable housing through what is now the Housing & Economic Development Fund.

The foundation’s first housing project, the Paulo Agbayani Retirement Village, provided Filipino farmworkers with dignity and stability. Today, CCF manages over $900 million in affordable housing, transforming the lives of thousands of families, seniors, and youth.

Chavez Media: Amplifying Voices

Recognizing the power of media to mobilize change, Chavez established Radio Campesina, its flagship program, in 1983 to entertain and instill a sense of community among Latinos and working families.

Today, Chavez Media reaches millions of multicultural audiences across multiple touchpoints, engaging a multi-generational, multicultural audience. Its abiding mission is to promote Cesar’s legacy by motivating people to use the resources available and be active participants in shaping their lives and communities.

National Chavez Center: Preserving a Legacy

The National Chavez Center ensures that Cesar’s legacy remains a beacon for future generations. From national days of service to heritage summits and the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, it serves as a place of education, reflection, and community-building.

La Paz, where Chavez spent his final years, continues to embody his principles of nonviolence, self-sacrifice, and service—a lasting tribute to his life’s work.

Be Part of This Legacy

Cesar Chavez believed in the power of community. Join us in celebrating his life and ensuring his mission continues.

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Together, we keep the movement alive. ¡Sí, Se Puede!

A Message From Our New President and CEO Manuel Bernal

February 1, 2024, by CCF

At the end of 2023, the Cesar Chavez Foundation (CCF) Board of Directors announced Paul Chavez’s retirement and my appointment as CCF’s President and CEO. During his 30 years with the Chavez Foundation and more than 50 years with the farm worker movement, Paul has ensured that the legacy and values of his father continue inspiring people to make a difference in their lives and communities. I am humbled and honored to follow in his footsteps as we move forward into this next chapter.

Over the past several years, Paul and I have worked together crafting a vision for CCF. I made a personal commitment to continue the work of impacting lives through the guidance of Cesar’s values. My intention as the new President and CEO is to steer CCF into the future and facilitate growth so more needs are addressed as we work to improve the quality of life for Latinos and working people. While we will continue focusing on growth in the Southwest, we are placing special emphasis on growing our presence in Texas, and looking forward to working with partners as we advance our mission of inspiring and transforming communities.

CCF has experienced tremendous growth and has never been stronger. We have a Board of Directors committed to the ideals that started the National Farm Workers Service Center 60 years ago, and a management team and staff dedicated to implementing the daily work. What started as an organization to address the fundamental needs of working families, CCF has grown and transformed into a successful collection of social enterprises supporting millions of Latinos and other working families with nearly 400 employees across five Southwestern states. As we prepare to cross the billion-dollar mark of investment in underserved communities through CCF social enterprises, the organization is poised to achieve new heights.

Thank you for your continued support. I am grateful to be on this journey with you.

Manuel H. Bernal, President and CEO
Cesar Chavez Foundation

Introducing Chavez Foundation Branded GIF Stickers

May 3, 2023, by CCF

The Cesar Chavez Foundation has launched branded GIF stickers of Cesar Chavez with his beloved dogs, featuring Cesar Chavez, his beloved dogs Boycott and Huelga (“strike”), notable quotes, and more.

These GIFS can be pulled directly from the Cesar Chavez Foundation Channel on GIPHY and are accessible through simple search features on social media — type “Chavez Foundation” into the GIPHY search bar. Explore and share your favorites, and remember to tag us @ChavezFoundation.

GIFs can also be found with the following keywords: cesar chavez foundation, cesar chavez, si se puede, chavez foundation, huelga, strike, boycott, and CCF.

Cesar Chavez marches with a “Huelga” Sign

“Huelga,” meaning “strike,” was a term Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers used that has evolved to signify the struggle of the movement. The Aztec eagle, once a symbol for farm workers, represented a cultural connection evoking a sense of pride.

Cesar Chavez with Boycott and Huelga

Cesar Chavez had two German Shepherds he trained himself named Boycott and Huelga (“strike”). He credited them for his commitments to vegetarianism and animal rights, and at his request, they are buried near him in the rose garden at The National Chavez Center.

Cesar Chavez Quote

“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed.” These words were extracted from Cesar Chavez’s 1984 address to the Commonwealth Club of California. He is shown holding a shovel inspired by a photograph taken of him in La Paz.

Cesar Chavez Foundation Logos

In 2018, the Chavez Foundation unveiled a new logo to reflect better the organization’s growing work in carrying out Cesar’s vision for a better future for our communities and families. It was designed to communicate the legacy of Cesar Chavez, the history of social activism, and the continued values the Chavez Foundation champions.

Need a quick tutorial? Check out the video below.

@chavezfoundation in Instagram stories. Don’t forget to tag @ChavezFoundation and use the hashtag #CCFConvocation23 when sharing your favorite Staff Convocation moments.

Need a quick tutorial? Check out the video below.

Invitation to help mark the 10th anniversary of the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in Keene

October 5, 2022, by CCF

Invitation to help mark the 10^th anniversary of the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in Keene

Community members are invited to help the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument celebrate 10 years to the day since President Obama journeyed to Keene, Calif. for dedication of the 398^th unit of the National Park Service before 7,000 people on the historic grounds where the farm labor and civil rights leader lived and labored his last quarter century. A commemorative ceremony is set in the monument’s Memorial Garden located at 29700 Woodford-Tehachapi Road in Keene starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022.

The event is free to the public and hosted by the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument and National Parks Service in partnership with the National Chavez Center, the Cesar Chavez Foundation, and National Park Foundation. Speakers include Chavez foundation President Paul F. Chavez; Frank Lands, regional director of the National Park Service; and Anne Stephan, superintendent of Chavez national monument. Visitors are invited to view new exhibits in the monument’s Visitor Center, get a special National Parks Passport commemorative cancellation stamp, and see the newly restored exterior of the modest nearby Chavez family home, where Cesar and Helen Chavez and their children resided.

The Chavez national monument was established on Oct. 8, 2012, by President Obama through Presidential Proclamation under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to honor the life and work of Cesar Chavez, particularly his role as a 20^th Century Latino civil rights leader and his passionate dedication to the American farm worker movement. The monument is open year-round from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., except on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.

For more information, check out César E. Chávez National Monument on Facebook.

Who: National Chavez Center, Cesar Chavez Foundation, National Park Foundation

What: 10^th anniversary of the dedication by President Obama of the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument

Where: Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, 29700 Woodford-Tehachapi Road, Keene, Calif. 93531

When: 10 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022

Cesar Chavez family invited to join Mexican president celebrating ‘El Grito’ at National Palace before a big crowd on giant Zócalo Plaza

September 12, 2022, by CCF

Cesar Chavez family invited to join Mexican president celebrating ‘El Grito’ at National Palace before a big crowd on giant Zócalo Plaza

Mexico City (September 12, 2022) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has invited the family of U.S. civil rights and farm labor leader Cesar Chavez to join him in proclaiming “El Grito”—The Cry of Dolores—celebrating Mexican independence on Thursday evening, Sept. 15 from the National Palace before a large crowd assembled in the giant Zócalo or Plaza de la Constitución.

Five of Chavez’s eight children—Sylvia Delgado, Eloise Carrillo, Paul Chavez, Elizabeth Villarino, and Anthony Chavez—will join the Mexican president and a distinguished group of current and former heads of state and other international figures for the annual historical commemoration akin to America’s 4^th of July. Also present will be grandson Andres Chavez, executive director of the National Chavez Center, which preserves and promotes his grandfather’s legacy.

The invitation is part of a long relationship of cooperation between the farm worker movement and the government and people of Mexico. Cesar Chavez was awarded the Aguila Azteca (the Aztec Eagle), Mexico’s highest honor for people of Mexican heritage. The farm worker movement worked with the Mexican administration to cover U.S. farm workers in Mexico under the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, the Mexican healthcare system.

Paul Chavez, president of the Cesar Chavez Foundation, issued the following statement from the National Chavez Center in the Tehachapi Mountain town of Keene, Calif., where his father lived and labored his last quarter century, and where he and his wife Helen are buried. It also hosts the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, administered in partnership between the National Park Service and the National Chavez Center.

The Chavez family and farm worker movement express our gratitude to President Lopez Obrador and the government and people of Mexico for including us in this annual historical observation. We are proud of our ancestry and honored to participate in the president’s proclamation of El Grito that inspires people from both sides of the border.

Mexican Independence Day, Sept. 16, also marks the anniversary of when Cesar Chavez’s mostly Latino union joined Filipino workers by striking Delano, Calif.-area table and wine grape growers in 1965. That sparked a five-year-long landmark grape strike and a three-year-long international grape boycott.

Tag: Cesar Chavez Foundation