[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 155 (Friday, November 5, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2273]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  COPS AND METRO ALLIANCE CELEBRATE 25 YEARS OF SUCCESSFUL POLITICAL 
                                 ACTION

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CIRO D. RODRIGUEZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 4, 1999

  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I am truly honored to recognize the 25th 
anniversary of the founding of an organization that changed the 
political landscape in San Antonio, across Texas and the Nation. From 
the alleys of San Antonio's poorest South and West Side neighborhoods, 
people of faith and conviction came together a quarter century ago to 
form Communities Organized for Public Service, or COPS.
  COPS, and later its sister organization, Metro Alliance, entered the 
scene at a time when the largely minority, poor communities of San 
Antonio did not have a voice at the table. Frustrated by inaction, and 
worse by a lack of attention from the establishment leadership, COPS 
and Metro Alliance became the voice of the unheard, the mouth of those 
who were ignored.
  COPS and Metro Alliance draw their strength from the people and 
institutions that make up the local neighborhoods: churches, schools, 
and other community-based organizations. We hear a great deal of talk 
today about the need for faith-based groups to take responsibility, but 
the truth of the matter is that COPS and Metro Alliance long ago 
accepted that challenge. The result has been a thousand victories, each 
one building on the last, with more than 40 religious congregations 
working together.
  COPS first set out to repair the imbalance in distribution of funds 
for city improvements. They rightly demanded that poor neighborhoods 
deserved flood control and street improvements. Later COPS fought in 
the battle to bring single-member districts to San Antonio, helping end 
the legacy of a system that did not adequately seat minorities, who by 
this time were a majority of the local population, at the table of 
power.
  In recent years, COPS and Metro Alliance, recognizing that education 
is the cornerstone of any future success, focus their energies on job 
training and early childhood education. Project QUEST and the San 
Antonio Education Partnership are models for improving the lives of 
communities one person at a time.
  The positive impact of these organizations reaches far beyond the 
banks of the San Antonio River. By joining with the Industrial Areas 
Foundation, sister groups began to spring forth across Texas, and then 
other areas of the country. From city to city, the basic principles 
were established--that local communities could organize themselves to 
create a political force that could not be ignored.
  Today, similar organizations exist in Dallas, El Paso, Houston, the 
Rio Grande Valley, and communities in New Mexico, Arizona, Louisiana, 
Nebraska, Iowa, and southern California. On November 7, delegates from 
each of these areas, some 5,000 in number, will convene in San Antonio 
to celebrate 25 years of successful political action on behalf of the 
less fortunate. Their work has improved the living and working 
conditions of countless thousands of low- and moderate-income families.
  All my colleagues in the House of Representatives should be proud of 
the work performed by COPS, Metro Alliance, and their sister 
organizations across the country. Ordinary people doing extraordinary 
work is the best way to describe them. I am proud to share in their 
accomplishments and look forward to years of future growth and success.

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