Ernesto Cortes

Ernesto Cortés Jr. is the Industrial Areas Foundation

(IAF) co-chair and executive director of the West / Ernesto Cortés Jr.
Southwest IAF regional network. Occupation(s) Industrial Areas Foundation
co-chair and executive director
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.[1]

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 grassroots organization of San Antonio's west
and south side communities.[2] This work has since expanded to include broad-based organizing projects
across ten Southwestern states including Texas, California, Nevada, Arizona, Louisiana, Nebraska, New
Mexico, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. These organizations' diverse faith institutions are joined by
schools, labor and professional associations, and non-profits.[3] These organizations 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.[4]

Cortés envisioned and launched the Alliance Schools strategy - a lauded initiative to engage communities
of adults in public education.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8] The
graduation rates of these projects consistently outpace those of the community colleges with which they
partner, helping over 12,000 low wage employees become higher-paid knowledge workers equipped with
the needed skills in high demand fields.[9] These projects have additionally been shown to provide a
positive Return On Investment for public entities that invest in them.[10] 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.[11] A study of Cortes's work with IAF in Texas, Cold Anger,
was written by Mary Beth Rogers. Dozens of other books further describe his work in and beyond
Texas.[12]
Cortés coordinates regional and national leadership schools that train grassroots leaders to develop
community organizations based on access to political power through relationship building, and social
justice initiatives.[13] He has helped community members win water and sewage facility and other
infrastructure improvements, election campaigns, and increased access to affordable housing.[14]

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 Houston. Besides, he received the
prestigious 4th Annual Heinz Award in Public Policy in 1999[15] 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.[16] In 2009 he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from
Princeton University.[17] In 2015, as the Princeton University Stewart Fellow in Religion, he co-taught a
course on Religion and Power in Grassroots Democracy.[18]

Notes
1. Robert Putnam (2003), Better Together; Jeffrey Stout (2010), Blessed Are the Organized;
William Greider (1992), Who Will Tell the People?; Internet Industrial Areas Foundation (http
s://[Link]/web/20100314170917/[Link]
ml), accessed 4 February 2010; West / Southwest IAF ([Link] accessed 20
May 2011; The Heinz Awards Ernest J. Cortés, Jr. Bio ([Link]
s/ernesto-j-cortes-jr), accessed 4 February 2010
2. David Montejano (2010), Quixote's Soldiers: A Local History of the Chicano Movement,
1966-1981
3. Jeffrey Stout (2010), Blessed Are the Organized; William Julius Wilson (2001), The Bridge
Over the Racial Divide; Paul Osterman (2002), Gathering Power
4. Meg Sommerfeld, "Ordinary People," Education Week XIV, no. 18, (25 January 1995): 18;
Robert Putnam & Lewis Feldstein, Better Together: Restoring the American Community
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003), 14-16 .
5. Richard J. Murnane and Frank Levy (1996), Teaching the New Basic Skills: Principles for
Educating Children to Thrive in a Changing Economy; Dennis Shirley (1997), Community
Organizing for Urban School Reform; Dennis Shirley (2001), Valley Interfaith and School
Reform: Organizing for Power in South Texas
6. Robert H. Wilson (1997), Public Policy and Community: Activism and Governance in Texas
7. Annenberg Institute (2009), Building Partnerships to Reinvent School Culture: Austin
Interfaith
8. William Greider(2003), The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy;
West/Southwest IAF: Labor Market Intermediaries ([Link]
rkforce-development/labor-market-intermediary-institutions/) Archived ([Link]
g/web/20120326002135/[Link]
-market-intermediary-institutions/) March 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
9. Paul Osterman (2000), Securing Prosperity: The American Labor Market; How it has
Changed and What to Do About It; Aspen Institute (2001), Project QUEST: A Case Study of
a Sectoral Employment Development Approach
10. "Return On Investment from Capital IDEA" by the Ray Marshall Center of UT Austin (2011);
"Economic Impacts of the JobPath Program on Pima County" by Applied Economics (2014);
"Economic Impact of Project ARRIBA on El Paso" by Institute for Policy and Economic
Development of UT El Paso (2007); "VIDA: Economic Impact" by the Data & Information
Systems Center of UT Pan American (2010).
11. MIT (2000), Report on the Impact of the Valley Interfaith Living Wage Campaign;
West/Southwest IAF: Living Wage Strategies ([Link]
elopment/living-wages/)
12. Bibliography ([Link]
[Link])
13. Changemakers; Tattersall, Amanda; Cortes, Ernie (2021). "ChangeMaker Chat with Ernie
Cortes: Community Organising" ([Link]
ortes-community-organising/). Commons Social Change Library.
14. Benjamin Marquez, Mexican American Organizations and Identity Politics, pp. 48-50; Mary
Beth Rogers, Cold Anger, pp. 1-2.
15. The Heinz Awards, Ernesto J. Cortes, Jr. profile ([Link]
sto-j-cortes-jr)
16. Ernesto J. Cortes, Honorary Degree Recipient – Doctor of Laws ([Link]
b/20110513220150/[Link] Rutgers
University
17. Princeton University honorary degrees ([Link]
9/63E27/)
18. Long-Term Visiting Fellows ([Link]
s) Archived ([Link]
ellows/long-term-visiting-fellows) 2012-09-03 at the Wayback Machine, Princeton University
Council of the Humanities

References
Bystydzienski, Jill and Schacht, Steven (2001). Forging Radical Alliances Across Difference:
Coalition Politics for the New Millennium. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, Inc. pp. 133–145.
Carnoy, Martin (2002). Sustaining the New Economy: Work, Family and Community in the
Information Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 184–86.
Edwards, Bob, Foley, Michael W., Diani, Mario (2001). Beyond Tocqueville: Civil Society and
the Social Capital Debate.
Freeman, Richard, Hersch, Joni, and Mishel, Lawrence (2005). Emerging Labor Market
Institutions for the Twenty-First Century. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
pp. 303–305.
Greider, William (1992). Who Will Tell the People? New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Hatch, T. (1998) How Community Action Contributes to Achievement. Education Leadership.
55 (8): 15–16.
Holmesly, Sterlin. (2003) HemisFair `68 and the Transformation of San Antonio.
Marquez, Benjamin (2003). Constructing Identities in Mexican-American Political
Organizations. Austin, TX: UT Press. pp. 48–67.
Marshall, Ray and Tucker, Mark, Thinking for a Living: Education and the Wealth of Nations.
(1993). Perseus Books Group. P. 196.
Marshall, Ray (2000) Back to Shared Prosperity: The Growing Inequality of Wealth and
Income in America. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. pp. 41–42.
 Meier, Matt S. and Gutierrez, Margo (2000). Encyclopedia of the Mexican American Civil
Rights Movement. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 64–65.
Montejano, David (2010). Quixote's Soldiers: A Local History of the Chicano Movement,
1966–1968. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Chapter 11.
Moyers, Bill (1990) A World of Ideas II.
Murnane, R.J. and Levy, F. (1996) Teaching the New Basic Skills: Principles for Educating
Children to Thrive in a Changing Economy. New York: The Free Press.
Osterman, Paul and Shulman, Beth (2011) Good Jobs America: Making Work Better for
Everyone. New York, NY: Russell Sage.
Osterman, Paul (2002) Gathering Power: The Future of Progressive Politics in America
Boston, MA: Beacon Press
Osterman, Paul (2000) Securing Prosperity: The American Labor Market; How It Has
Changed and What to Do About It. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Putnam, Robert and Feldstein, Lewis (2003) Better Together: Restoring the American
Community. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Rogers, Mary Beth (1990) Cold Anger: A Story of Faith and Power Politics. Denton, Texas:
University of North Texas Press.
Sandel, Michael J. (1996) Democracy's Discontent. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University
Press.
Shirley, Dennis (1997) Community Organizing for Urban School Reform. Austin, Tx.:
University of Texas Press.
Shirley, Dennis (2001) Valley Interfaith and School Reform: Organizing for Power in South
Texas. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Smith, Glen W. (2004). The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from
Extinction. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Stout, Jeffrey (2010). Blessed Are the Organized. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press.
Thomas, Gary and Hiatt-Michael, Diana, editors (2001). Promising Practices for Family
Involvement in Schools. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. pp. 125–152.
Warren, Mark (2001) Dry Bones Rattling: Community Building to Revitalize American
Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Whalen, Charles (2010). Human Resource Economics and Public Policy: Essays in Honor
of Vernon Brigg. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
Wilson, Robert (1995) Public Policy and Community: Activism and Governance in Texas.
Austin, Tx.: University of Texas Press.
Wilson, William Julius (2001) The Bridge Over the Racial Divide. University of California
Press.

External links
West / Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation website ([Link]
5034015/[Link]
The Heinz Awards, Ernesto J. Cortes, Jr. profile ([Link]
sto-j-cortes-jr)
Ernesto Cortes Bio (.pdf) ([Link]
hy-of-Ernesto-Cortes-Jr..pdf) Archived ([Link]
[Link]/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/140206-Biography-of-Ernesto-Cortes-Jr..pdf)
2014-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
 Interview with Ernesto Cortes, Jr., May 27, 1994, University of Texas as San Antonio:
Institute of Texan Cultures: Oral History Collections, UA 15.01, University of Texas at San
Antonio Libraries Special Collections. ([Link]
d/275)

Retrieved from "[Link]