by Ileana Martinez | Feb 18, 2022 | News & Updates
Nation’s Service-Employment-Redevelopment Network Reminds Us That George Washington’s Life of Public Service Is Still A Lasting Role Model
Irving, TX – SER National is marking Presidents’ Day as an opportunity to adopt and share the spirit of servant leadership exemplified by the life of George Washington, our nation’s first president. The holiday is observed on the third Monday of February and celebrates the birthday of an American who was willing to lead a fledgling democracy. Yet, he was not a professional politician and worked as a surveyor before volunteering to join the military to fight for freedom and independence.
“The life of President Washington is one of the enduring examples that still today, 233 years later, demonstrates the courage to accept our civic duty and contribute our God-given talents and skills, even when we do not think we can do so,” says Ignacio Salazar, SER National Chief Executive Officer. “What is most remarkable about the life of our first president is that according to historical accounts, Washington could have remained in the family’s business and leveraged his aristocratic position to avoid joining the ranks with other soldiers, but he did not do so. Instead, George Washington volunteered three times, and with each of these, he placed his life at risk in serving his country. Then, after fighting as a soldier and military commander, Washington accepted the enormous weight of accepting to serve as our president for another eight years. He left office at 64-years-old, which was a very advanced age at the time. America lost him just three years. He was 67,” says Salazar.
The spirit of service to others is one of the cornerstones of SER National and the SER Network of Affiliates. At more than 200 sites throughout the country and Puerto Rico, men and women join together to benefit their communities. They are teaching aspiring entrepreneurs how to start a business. Others are helping seniors learn new job skills or assisting people in earning a high-school equivalency diploma and advancing economically. Or they are providing a head start for preschoolers to have an academic foundation. Since 1964, SER Jobs for Progress has offered these and many other programs to strengthen our country through employment and purposeful activity every day.
“Presidents’ Day is an opportunity to ask ourselves what can we do, right in our neighborhoods and our cities?” says Salazar. “Yes, our presidents take on the burden of leading an entire nation, and we can emulate their example by volunteering to help in an area that interests us. Our country’s lasting success relies on the contributions of people from all walks of life, backgrounds, and experiences working together, as did Americans in those early, challenging days of President Washington. The place to start is with ourselves and our families, and the time to begin is now,” says Salazar.
by Ileana Martinez | Feb 3, 2022 | News & Updates, Press Release
SER NATIONAL PAYS TRIBUTE TO ROLANDO ESPARZA, FORMER SER PRESIDENT, UPON HIS PASSING
Nation’s Service-Employment-Redevelopment Network Honors Community Trailblazer, Visionary, and Lifelong Advocate
Irving, TX – SER National today issued the following statement on the passing of a beloved, respected friend and community champion, Rolando Esparza.
He was born in San Antonio, TX, on May 22, 1940, to Miquel and Virtudes Esparza. He received a BA in Economics at the University of Texas, Austin, and then began a 5-year career in the Air Force. Esparza served in the Vietnam War and earned the rank of Captain before being honorably discharged in 1969. Once Esparza returned to San Antonio, he worked as a stockbroker and financial advisor. He then became the director for SER Jobs for Progress and moved up to SER National and earned the title of Congressional Liason in Washington D.C. After his departure from SER National, he served as a presidential appointee at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Rolando leaves in God’s loving care his devoted wife, Jane Jackson Esparza; an older brother, Mike Esparza; his children, Cynthia Crockett (Mark) and Roland Gabriel Esparza (Susan), from a previous marriage to Alma Morales Riojas; his grandchildren, Zachary Crockett (Chelsea), Nicolas Crockett, Liliana Esparza, Shelley Stevenson and Emily Stevenson; two great-grandchildren, Charlotte, and Lucas Crockett; and five great-nieces and nephews
by Ileana Martinez | Jan 14, 2022 | News & Updates
Nation’s Service-Employment-Redevelopment Network Says Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Embodied The Hope of Our Nation’s Better Nature for All
SER National today issued the following statement in observance of what would have been Reverend King’s 93rd birthday. He was 39 years old when he died in Memphis, Tennessee, the target of an assassination on April 4, 1968. The Baptist minister and civil rights leader devoted his life to challenging the country into fulfilling its promise of equality to include people of color in America. Also, he championed the right to vote for all lawful citizens, desegregation of both public and private spaces, and fair labor practices without regard to race or ethnicity. Today, more than a half-century since his passing, his message remains as timely as when his words were first spoken.
“Our harkening and heed to Dr. King’s prophetic vision of us as individual Americans and collectively as a nation has never been more urgent,” says Ignacio Salazar, SER National Chief Executive Officer. “He foresaw the promise fulfilled of our greatness which was possible upon crossing the modern river Jordan of inequities and injustice in America. Yet, he also understood our human flaws and frailties that lay in our path towards progress. As a clergyman, his calling was to be the activist who ignited social justice transformation, even at personal risk and sacrifice. This was the price he accepted and eventually paid.
Today, we are called to be servant leaders in the footsteps of Dr. King in our daily endeavors of work, or as neighbors in our communities, and fellow believers in our groups of faith. This day is a moment of reflection, reminding us that peaceful questioning and non-violent acts with positive change in mind are both our right and our duty. The same can be said of the millions who quietly conduct their lives as parents, spouses, professionals, and trades workers alike without any fanfare or recognition. These are the men and women about whom Dr. King said the content of their character matters most.
At the King Center located in Atlanta, Georgia, one of the cornerstone principles shared from Dr. King’s teachings is Moral Suasion. During the civil rights movement, our nation witnessed this powerful truth of actions that appeal to the moral beliefs of an adversary or the public to convince the adversary to change behavior or attitudes. May we each learn and use moral suasion every day in our lives to triumph over adversity and be an active contributor in moving America towards our better nature. Doing so is the highest honor and greatest tribute we pay the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
by Ileana Martinez | Dec 13, 2021 | News & Updates
SER NATIONAL SAYS THE SPIRIT OF VICENTE FERNANDEZ LIVES ON IN MILLIONS OF U.S. WORKERS
Nation’s Service-Employment-Redevelopment Network Celebrates His Legacy of Labor, Sacrifice, and Perseverance Still Found In America’s Essential Working Men and Women
Irving, TX – Ignacio Salazar, SER National Chief Executive Officer, issued the following statement in the wake of the death of Vicente Fernandez, one of Mexico’s most prolific and enduring musical forces. His career spanned more than six decades, 65-million records, and 35 movies. Word of Fernandez’ passing Sunday morning reverberated worldwide, igniting an outpouring of love for the mariachi charro known simply as Chente to millions of his fans. Fernandez first came to the United States as a young immigrant performer, penniless and unknown. Over the next half-century, he rose to become one of the most beloved composer-singers of Mexican rancheras. His music of working immigrants emblazoned him forever in the hearts of generations of homesick men and women toiling daily for the American dream while longing for the home they left behind.
“SER NATIONAL honors the spirit of Vicente Fernandez because it is in the soul of millions of hard-working men and women throughout our land and Puerto Rico who sweat and toil every day to keep our economies going. We are proud to be one of the nation’s most expansive affiliate-networks of service, employment, and redevelopment resources. Our programs see the fruits of that work ethic in millions of our essential workers eager and willing to improve their skills and abilities to sustain their families and themselves. Chente embodied that energy and will to achieve, even in the face of loss, pain, and disappointment, always enduring and pressing on. These values endeared him to so many who ardently sang his songs even while confronting their worst moments. He exemplified the strength of the immigrant spirit and that of every essential worker we are privileged to help train and witness as they achieve their full potential.
Every day across our great nation, we reach thousands of people encouraging their progress as Chente did. We help students who dream of attaining their high school equivalency diploma as their gateway to a better life. We identify and invite seniors and mid-career men and women to acquire new skills to open other career paths. We are touching farmworkers with training and jobs programs to bring them and their families out of the fields into more professions and trades. Vicente Fernandez often sang that it isn’t always about arriving first; it’s about knowing how to arrive. This resilience is the enduring truth he instilled in others that will live on for generations, and SER National is dedicated to making that promise a reality for years to come.”
by Ileana Martinez | Nov 23, 2021 | News & Updates, Press Release
SER NATIONAL PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE LATE LULAC CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY, LUIS ROBERTO VERA, JR.
Nation’s Service-Employment-Redevelopment Network Honors His Lifetime of Championing America’s Constitutional Guarantees for Millions of Latinos
Ignacio Salazar, SER National Chief Executive Officer, issued the following statement upon the passing of Luis Roberto Vera, Jr., National General Counsel for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). On Sunday, the respected civil rights leader died at his home in San Antonio, Texas, after a long illness. He was 65.
Vera blazed a historic path throughout his nearly 30-year legal career. He created social justice coalitions that catapulted state and federal lawsuits on behalf of Latinos into the national headlines. These legal actions ranged from education, voting rights, housing, and sanctuary cities to redistricting and immigration policies. He grew up and remained in San Antonio, Texas, where he served the Latino community. Vera earned his undergraduate and a graduate degree in political science from St. Mary’s University and a law degree from the Western New England University School of Law.
“SER NATIONAL and Latinos across our country and Puerto Rico have lost a great voice and defender of our freedoms, privileges, and rights assured to every man, woman, and child. His life was an example of accepting our duties and responsibilities on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves. Luis showed a passionate conviction for upholding the spirit and the letter of the law. He fought with relentless devotion to his community, especially immigrants fleeing inhumane conditions in the countries where they lived. Luis worked tirelessly on behalf of those who arrived at our borders, believing America is still a place that welcomes the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Several of his cases reached the United States Supreme Court, an affirmation that the young lawyer from the working-class neighborhoods of Texas was impacting the very foundation of our nation’s legal framework. Although reluctant to be in the spotlight, he accepted two very distinct honors to recognize his lifetime of service to the Latino community. He received the 2017 Ohtli Award, one of the highest honors bestowed by the Mexican Government upon a Latino leader. Also, he was awarded the Presidential Medal in 2019 by the League of United Latin American Citizens. His most recent actions centered on challenging changes in election laws passed by the Republican-led Texas legislature and signed by Governor Greg Abbott. Vera continued working daily on these cases up until very recently. We shall miss his passion, selflessness, and devotion to service to others. To his wife Rose and the Vera family, we send our deepest and heartfelt condolences. May Luis rest in peace.”
