Ernesto Cortes
Encyclopedia
Ernesto Cortés, Jr. is the Industrial Areas Foundation
(IAF) co-chair and executive director of the West / Southwest regional network. The IAF provides leadership training and civics education to poor and moderate-income people across the US and UK. Cortés has been instrumental in the building of over 30 grassroots organizations known for developing and training community leaders.
Cortés envisioned and launched the Alliance Schools strategy - a lauded initiative to engage communities of adults in public education. Identifying and training parent and community leaders to change the culture of their schools, the Alliance Schools have built a broad base of support for public education, both locally and statewide. Alliance Schools have been successful in raising test scores by building a culture of collaboration, as recently documented by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform.
Assisted by Cortés, the West / Southwest IAF established ten independently operating labor market intermediaries by building the capacity of constituents to create the requisite political will. The graduation rates of these projects consistently outpace those of the community colleges with which they partner, helping over 11,000 low wage employees become higher paid knowledge workers equipped with the needed skills in high demand fields. He also assisted in several living wage campaigns in Texas which raised the wages of over 10,000 workers in the Rio Grande Valley, in addition to those in Austin and San Antonio.
Cortés coordinates regional and national leadership schools that train grassroots
leaders to develop community organizations based on access to political power, relationship building, and social justice
initiatives. He has helped community members win water and sewage facility and other infrastructure improvements, election campaigns, and increased access to affordable housing.
. In addition, he received the prestigious 4th Annual Heinz Award
in Public Policy in 1999 and completed fellowships at the JFK School of Government at Harvard and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT. He has been awarded honorary degrees from Southern Methodist University, University of St. Edwards in Austin and Rutgers University in New Jersey. In 2009 he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Princeton University.
Industrial Areas Foundation
The Industrial Areas Foundation is a national community organizing network established in 1940 by Saul Alinsky. IAF provides training and consultation, furnishes organizers, and develops national strategy for its affiliated broad-based community organizations. There are currently 57 IAF...
(IAF) co-chair and executive director of the West / Southwest regional network. The IAF provides leadership training and civics education to poor and moderate-income people across the US and UK. Cortés has been instrumental in the building of over 30 grassroots organizations known for developing and training community leaders.
Career
After attending an IAF training in Chicago and organizing in Wisconsin and Indiana in the early 1970s, Cortés returned to his hometown of San Antonio in 1974 to found Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS), the nationally recognized church-based grass roots organization of San Antonio’s west and south side communities. This work has since expanded to include organizing projects across ten Southwestern states including Texas, California, Nevada, Arizona, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Iowa, Oklahoma and Mississippi. Over the years, these organizations have leveraged billions of dollars for poorer communities including $700 million in infrastructure improvements in the colonias (areas of Texas which lacked basic drainage systems) during the late 1980s and early 1990s, $2.8 billion in increased public funding to equalize school funding in Texas in the mid-1980s, and $10 million in state funding for workforce development projects equipping underemployed adults with job training options. Millions more have been invested (and saved) in community level infrastructure, healthcare reform and housing.Cortés envisioned and launched the Alliance Schools strategy - a lauded initiative to engage communities of adults in public education. Identifying and training parent and community leaders to change the culture of their schools, the Alliance Schools have built a broad base of support for public education, both locally and statewide. Alliance Schools have been successful in raising test scores by building a culture of collaboration, as recently documented by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform.
Assisted by Cortés, the West / Southwest IAF established ten independently operating labor market intermediaries by building the capacity of constituents to create the requisite political will. The graduation rates of these projects consistently outpace those of the community colleges with which they partner, helping over 11,000 low wage employees become higher paid knowledge workers equipped with the needed skills in high demand fields. He also assisted in several living wage campaigns in Texas which raised the wages of over 10,000 workers in the Rio Grande Valley, in addition to those in Austin and San Antonio.
Cortés coordinates regional and national leadership schools that train grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
leaders to develop community organizations based on access to political power, relationship building, and social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
initiatives. He has helped community members win water and sewage facility and other infrastructure improvements, election campaigns, and increased access to affordable housing.
Honors
In 1984, he was awarded a MacArthur fellowship, also known as a "genius grant." In 1996, he was the recipient of an honorary doctoral degree from the University of HoustonUniversity of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
. In addition, he received the prestigious 4th Annual Heinz Award
Heinz Award
The Heinz Award is an award currently given annually to ten honorees by the Heinz Family Foundation. The Heinz Awards recognize outstanding individuals for their contributions in the five areas of: Arts and Humanities, the Environment, the Human Condition, Public Policy, and Technology, the Economy...
in Public Policy in 1999 and completed fellowships at the JFK School of Government at Harvard and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT. He has been awarded honorary degrees from Southern Methodist University, University of St. Edwards in Austin and Rutgers University in New Jersey. In 2009 he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Princeton University.