by Ileana Martinez | Apr 8, 2022 | News & Updates
Nation’s Service-Employment-Redevelopment Network Calls the Senate 53-47 Confirmation A Moment When America Can Re-Commit to Justice for All
SER Jobs for Progress National, Inc. issued the following statement on the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. On Thursday, Judge Jackson became the first black woman confirmed to the highest court. As significant was that Vice-President Kamala Harris presided over the confirmation vote as the first black woman elected to the second-highest office in the United States.
Ignacio Salazar, SER National’s President & Chief Executive Officer
“Since our founding as a nation, America has always risen to define its greater self even through the most challenging times of political turmoil, economic upheaval, or social unrest. We have been able to prevail because most Americans believe in the set of principles in our Constitution that afford us equal rights and, with those, similar responsibilities. These values extend into every facet of our lives, including education, employment, economic advancement, and the application of justice.
On the latter, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faced tough questioning during her Senate confirmation hearings about how she would apply the law given, inferring whether her experiences as a black woman born to parents involved in the civil rights movement might bias her judgment. She faced the pointed interrogatories with steadfast dignity and unwavering conviction of her principles. Judge Jackson replied that she would conduct herself and arrive at her conclusions ‘without fear or favor’ as evidenced by her more than 600 decisions during her judicial career.
A deeper analysis of Judge Jackson’s legal qualifications demonstrates an exemplary record with fewer than two percent of her decisions overruled, an extraordinarily low reversal rate. Moreover, as measured by rulings that withstood challenges, Judge Jackson’s performance on the federal bench surpasses that of more than half of her peers across the United States. Also, her career experience as a jurist is greater than that of four other current Justices on the Supreme Court combined when they were nominated.
All of this affirms the decision of the Senate majority, including three Republicans, and the more than 53% of Americans surveyed in a Gallup Poll. Confirming Judge Jackson to the Supreme Court represents our nation’s journey in the right direction towards ensuring that one day soon, liberty and justice for all, will be a guarantee, not simply a pledge recited since 1892 and formally adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1942. SER NATIONAL salutes Judge Jackson on her historical confirmation. We may all look forward to a greater America because of her voice and viewpoints within the chambers of the highest court in our land.”
by Ileana Martinez | Mar 31, 2022 | News & Updates
SER Jobs for Progress National, Inc. issued the following statement on the birthday of Cesar Chavez, the Latino labor leader and civil rights advocate. He helped organize the country’s farmworkers. Chavez was born on March 31, 1927, and died on April 23, 1993. He was 66.
Ignacio Salazar, SER National’s President & Chief Executive Officer
“The power of Cesar Chavez Day is that it celebrates the lives of generations of working American men and women through the journey of one modern-day historical figure. As a man, Cesar Chavez stood not too tall, and most times, he spoke softly except when delivering his fiery admonishments to landowners in whose fields farmworkers toiled from sunrise to sundown. Yet, he ignited and led one of the most significant labor movements since our founding. He called for such simple provisions for farmworkers as clean drinking water, portable field toilets, and work breaks in the shade from the scorching sun. Cesar Chavez was every American of the untold millions, free or enslaved person, who had cleared and cared for land to feed themselves and their families since America’s earliest days. All lived by the sweat on their brow.
It is a well-known fact that Cesar never earned more than $6,000 a year for himself, and he often credited his wife Helen publicly for raising their eight children. At the same time, he traveled nine months out of every year as the leader, along with Dolores Huerta, of the National Farmworkers Association (NFWA), later becoming the United Farm Workers (UFW). Often, they relied on the simple generosity of the poorest farmworker families who opened their doors and shared their table with Cesar. At the time, farmworkers were paid 40-cents an hour, had no health benefits or pension.
Over forty years, Chavez maintained his focus on public service, and the picket lines, strike gatherings, and marches marked his path to eventual victories, albeit fleeting because civil rights, he said, must be fought for and won with every generation. An estimated 1.1 million to 1.7 million are undocumented farmworkers in the United States, and another .75 million to 1.2 million are lawful or citizen farmworkers. Eighty-three percent of them are Latino, and the vast majority are from Mexico. More than a third of all farmworkers are women. Their average hourly wage is $10.80, although many still work by the piece.
Forty-thousand people attended Cesar Chavez’s funeral and accompanied his simple, pinewood casket. Today, Cesar rests at Nuestra Señora Reina de La Paz, his beloved retreat where he walked and meditated, in the shadow of Dos Lomas above Tehachapi, California. His phrase Si Se Puede (Yes, We Can!) now resonates across the land as a battle cry of service to strive, do, and achieve, not just for ourselves but also for others. May this be our rallying cry on this Cesar Chavez Day”.
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.”
