88R9545 BPG-D
By: Martinez H.R. No. 333
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Juanita Valdez-Cox of Donna retired as executive
director of La Unión del Pueblo Entero on December 31, 2022,
following decades of distinguished service to the labor movement;
and
WHEREAS, Born in Mercedes, Ms. Valdez-Cox joined her
farmworker parents in the fields as a young girl; she earned a
degree in early childhood development from The University of Texas
Rio Grande Valley and became a teacher and director for the Colonias
Del Valle Head Start Program; in 1979, she took a position as a
community organizer in East Austin, where she was introduced to the
philosophy of Cesar Chavez and other civil rights leaders; she soon
returned to the Rio Grande Valley and began volunteering with the
United Farm Workers; after serving the organization as a regional
coordinator, she rose to become state director, and in 2000, she was
elected to the national executive board; three years later, all
Texas UFW staff transferred to LUPE, and Ms. Valdez-Cox was
assigned to manage its operations in the state; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Valdez-Cox was named executive director of LUPE
in 2007; she secured long-term funding from the Marguerite Casey
Foundation, leading to the formation of the Rio Grande Valley Equal
Voice Network, a coalition of nonprofit organizations striving to
improve the lives of working families; her negotiating skills
helped bring colonia residents millions of dollars for disaster
recovery housing and drainage improvements; under her leadership,
LUPE was a successful plaintiff in several groundbreaking federal
discrimination lawsuits, and she worked with state lawmakers to
bring streetlights to colonias; she advocated unceasingly for the
rights of the most vulnerable and for humane measures such as DACA
and fair asylum laws, and she pushed back mightily against
anti-immigrant rhetoric and dehumanizing and repressive policies;
in 2019, LUPE garnered a Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award;
Ms. Valdez-Cox has shared her expertise in leadership roles with
many other worthy organizations, including the board of the Cesar
Chavez Foundation and the advisory committee of the National Farm
Workers Service Center's Sí Se Puede Education program; and
WHEREAS, Juanita Valdez-Cox devoted her career to making the
world a better place for workers and their families, and her
exceptional contributions will continue to resonate in the years to
come; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 88th Texas
Legislature hereby congratulate Juanita Valdez-Cox on her
retirement as executive director of LUPE and extend to her sincere
best wishes for continued happiness; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for Ms. Valdez-Cox as an expression of high regard by the
Texas House of Representatives.