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.