[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 24895]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING ROBERTO MAESTAS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JIM McDERMOTT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 14, 2009

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, today I rise to offer special 
recognition to my constituent and friend, Roberto Maestas, as he steps 
into a new role after serving as the executive director of El Centro de 
la Raza for the past 37 years. For more than 40 years, Mr. Maestas has 
been intimately involved in the ongoing struggle for civil rights and 
social justice, not only for Latinos, but for all disadvantaged people. 
He is among Seattle's most respected figures, esteemed for his 
effectiveness, his political savvy, and his legendary persuasive 
powers.
  Mr. Maestas recently has become Senior Advisor and Chair of 
Historical Resources at El Centro de la Raza. El Centro de la Raza's 
board of directors has asked Mr. Maestas to lead a program to 
chronicle, collect, record and preserve El Centro de la Raza's 
historical contributions to the local, national, and international 
community and to the social justice movement. We are so fortunate to 
have this opportunity to capture an accurate, vibrant history of a 
tumultuous, formative era with someone who not only lived through it 
but actually helped to make that history.
  Roberto Maestas was born in New Mexico, but he has called Seattle, 
Washington, his home since the early 1950s. As a young man, Mr. Maestas 
taught at Franklin High School before pursuing a graduate degree at the 
University of Washington in 1968, where he became one of the 
University's first Chicano graduates.
  In the early 1970s, as part of the United States War on Poverty, Mr. 
Maestas helped form an Adult Basic Education and English as a Second 
Language (ESL) program at South Seattle Community College to serve the 
city's growing Latino community. But, in 1972, funding was abruptly 
cut, and the program needed a new home. Mr. Maestas, along with fellow 
teachers, students, and a number of community activists, peaceably 
occupied the abandoned Beacon Hill School, and negotiated its 
conversion into a new community center, El Centro de la Raza.
  Under his leadership, El Centro has become a voice and hub for 
Latinos seeking services, advocacy, and social justice. It has grown 
from a provider of ESL classes to a multimillion dollar Community 
Action Agency offering a wide array of services to thousands of low-
income people of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Its programs include a 
bilingual child care center, a Basic Healthcare enrollment program, a 
food bank, senior services, and a home ownership program.
  In addition, Mr. Maestas and El Centro de la Raza have been at the 
forefront of multicultural and international initiatives. El Centro 
played a prominent role in local solidarity campaigns with Central 
American social justice activists, and it continues to host art 
exhibitions, cross-cultural exchanges, and international speakers. Mr. 
Maestas, along with Bernie Whitebear, Larry Gossett, and Bob Santos co-
founded the Minority Executive Directors' Coalition; his extraordinary 
work over three decades to build the strongest municipal multi-racial 
coalition in the United States is widely acknowledged and justly 
acclaimed. Although the founding of El Centro de la Raza was sparked by 
Latinos and distinguished with a Spanish name, that name translates in 
English to: ``The Center for the People of All Races.'' Through the 
years, Mr. Maestas has worked with diligence and determination to 
ensure that El Centro is ``home'' for all people interested in 
advancing the struggle for a better world by serving, educating, 
defending, and organizing each other to build the ``beloved community'' 
envisioned by Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Appropriately, El Centro de la Raza and Mr. Maestas have received 
countless international, national, state, and local awards, including 
the ``Thousand Points of Light'' award in 1991 from the President 
George Bush, Sr.
  Madam Speaker, Roberto Maestas is an invaluable asset to the Seattle 
community. His contributions and his commitment to better the lives of 
all people deserve our gratitude, our deep respect, and our keen 
approbation. The people of Seattle, including the thousands who have 
been served at El Centro de la Raza and the countless students, 
volunteers, and staff whom he has touched, are grateful for his kind 
guidance and his visionary leadership. I join them in thanking Mr. 
Maestas for his service, and in wishing him all the best in his future 
endeavors.

                          ____________________