Ernesto Cortes
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Ernesto Cortes is a community organizer affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) and Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS).
Cortes organizes primarily in the San Antonio, Texas area, though other organization in Houston, El Paso, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and New York City had also benefited from his leadership. Cortes currently is building an organization in Los Angeles, CA known as ONE LA - IAF.
Cortes coordinates regional and national leadership schools that train grassroots leaders on power, relationship building, and social justice. He has helped community members win water and sewage facilities where none existed, election campaigns, increased access to affordable housing, and neighborhood infrastructure improvements.
In 1984, he was awarded a MacArthur fellowship, also known as a "genius grant."
[edit] References
Marquez, Benjamin. Mexican American Organizations and Identity Politics: Choosing Issues Taking Sides. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003). Rogers, Mary Beth, Cold Anger, University of North Texas Press (1980) ISBN 0929398130
