| 1 | 1 | | H.R. No. 333 |
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| 2 | 2 | | |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | R E S O L U T I O N |
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| 5 | 5 | | WHEREAS, Juanita Valdez-Cox of Donna retired as executive |
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| 6 | 6 | | director of La Unión del Pueblo Entero on December 31, 2022, |
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| 7 | 7 | | following decades of distinguished service to the labor movement; |
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| 8 | 8 | | and |
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| 9 | 9 | | WHEREAS, Born in Mercedes, Ms. Valdez-Cox joined her |
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| 10 | 10 | | farmworker parents in the fields as a young girl; she earned a |
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| 11 | 11 | | degree in early childhood development from The University of Texas |
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| 12 | 12 | | Rio Grande Valley and became a teacher and director for the Colonias |
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| 13 | 13 | | Del Valle Head Start Program; in 1979, she took a position as a |
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| 14 | 14 | | community organizer in East Austin, where she was introduced to the |
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| 15 | 15 | | philosophy of Cesar Chavez and other civil rights leaders; she soon |
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| 16 | 16 | | returned to the Rio Grande Valley and began volunteering with the |
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| 17 | 17 | | United Farm Workers; after serving the organization as a regional |
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| 18 | 18 | | coordinator, she rose to become state director, and in 2000, she was |
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| 19 | 19 | | elected to the national executive board; three years later, all |
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| 20 | 20 | | Texas UFW staff transferred to LUPE, and Ms. Valdez-Cox was |
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| 21 | 21 | | assigned to manage its operations in the state; and |
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| 22 | 22 | | WHEREAS, Ms. Valdez-Cox was named executive director of LUPE |
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| 23 | 23 | | in 2007; she secured long-term funding from the Marguerite Casey |
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| 24 | 24 | | Foundation, leading to the formation of the Rio Grande Valley Equal |
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| 25 | 25 | | Voice Network, a coalition of nonprofit organizations striving to |
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| 26 | 26 | | improve the lives of working families; her negotiating skills |
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| 27 | 27 | | helped bring colonia residents millions of dollars for disaster |
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| 28 | 28 | | recovery housing and drainage improvements; under her leadership, |
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| 29 | 29 | | LUPE was a successful plaintiff in several groundbreaking federal |
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| 30 | 30 | | discrimination lawsuits, and she worked with state lawmakers to |
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| 31 | 31 | | bring streetlights to colonias; she advocated unceasingly for the |
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| 32 | 32 | | rights of the most vulnerable and for humane measures such as DACA |
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| 33 | 33 | | and fair asylum laws, and she pushed back mightily against |
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| 34 | 34 | | anti-immigrant rhetoric and dehumanizing and repressive policies; |
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| 35 | 35 | | in 2019, LUPE garnered a Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award; |
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| 36 | 36 | | Ms. Valdez-Cox has shared her expertise in leadership roles with |
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| 37 | 37 | | many other worthy organizations, including the board of the Cesar |
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| 38 | 38 | | Chavez Foundation and the advisory committee of the National Farm |
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| 39 | 39 | | Workers Service Center's Sí Se Puede Education program; and |
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| 40 | 40 | | WHEREAS, Juanita Valdez-Cox devoted her career to making the |
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| 41 | 41 | | world a better place for workers and their families, and her |
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| 42 | 42 | | exceptional contributions will continue to resonate in the years to |
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| 43 | 43 | | come; now, therefore, be it |
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| 44 | 44 | | RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 88th Texas |
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| 45 | 45 | | Legislature hereby congratulate Juanita Valdez-Cox on her |
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| 46 | 46 | | retirement as executive director of LUPE and extend to her sincere |
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| 47 | 47 | | best wishes for continued happiness; and, be it further |
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| 48 | 48 | | RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
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| 49 | 49 | | prepared for Ms. Valdez-Cox as an expression of high regard by the |
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| 50 | 50 | | Texas House of Representatives. |
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| 51 | 51 | | Martinez |
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