Biography

Employment: Copper miner for Phelps Dodge Corporation and iron ore miner for Kaiser Steel. Community organizer for Centro Chicano and for the United Farmworker Union.Tucson Youth Service Bureau Clinical Director. Arizona State Farm Worker Programs State Director. Community Behavioral Services Mental Health Center Administrator. South Mountain Community College Dean of Students. Now retired and working on immigration, discrimination and human rights. Education: BA degree from the University of Arizona and a MSW from Arizona State University Distinctions: Children and Family Studies Fellowship (National Council of la Raza), Medical and Clinical Social Work Internship (U.S. Veterans Administration), Department of Labor-Leaders in Action (U.S. White House award), Kellogg National Fellowship Program, NAFTA Latino Consensus Project (William C. Velasquez Research Institute), Innovator of the Year Award (Maricopa Community College District), the Bilingual Nursing Fellowship Program (founder and the Excelencia in Education national award). U.S and Mexico Seminars: Seminario de Actualizacion sobre México (Senior Fellows Seminar on Mexico) by Fundacion Solidaridad Mexicana-Americana A.C. and the Seminario Internacional sobre la Formacion de Recursos Humanos para el Trabajo by Secretaria de Educacion Publica (SEP) Mexican Government. Some community involvement: Tucson Unified School District Desegregation Committee, Glendale Youth Center founding member and fundraiser, Arizona Hispanic Community Forum, Glendale Elementary School District Desegregation Committee chairperson, Glendale High School Curriculum Committee, Committee for Glendale City Council Districts chairperson, Phoenix Police Hispanic Advisory Committee, Black Brown Coalition, Hispanic Jewish Coalition, member and fundraiser for Citizens for a Better Arizona who recalled the Arizona Senate President who introduced SB 1070 and currently active in the faith based, pro-immigrant rights East Valley Patriots for Social Justice.