As a boy in the early 1960s, Paul Chavez joined his seven brothers and sisters in handing out leaflets in farm towns throughout California’s Central Valley; and helped his father, Cesar Chavez, to build the union that would become the United Farm Workers.
Paul Chavez has spent his entire life with the farm worker movement as a union organizer, negotiator and assistant to his father. Since 1991 he also has led the Cesar Chavez Foundation, which works to improve the lives of farm workers and other poor working families throughout the Southwest.
On Sept. 15, Paul Chavez will present “Lessons Learned From My Father,” this year’s Cesar Chavez Intercultural Lecture at Elmhurst University. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the annual lecture series, which was created in 1996 as part of Hispanic Heritage Month activities at Elmhurst.
Under Paul Chavez’s leadership, the Cesar Chavez Foundation built and operates an affordable housing portfolio with nearly 5,000 units in four states. Chavez also expanded the Foundation’s Communications Fund with a Spanish- and English-language educational radio network that has 1.5 million daily listeners and followers. The Foundation’s Education Fund provides direct academic services and consulting to school districts, and the National Chavez Center preserves and promotes the legacy of Cesar Chavez across the nation.
“Lessons Learned From My Father” will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15, in the Founders Lounge of the Frick Center. Admission is free and all are welcome. Reservations are encouraged by visiting elmhurst.edu/cultural. For more information, email marketing@elmhurst.edu.
To protect the health of our community, campus visitors will be required to wear a mask during all indoor events, regardless of vaccination status. This requirement may change to reflect new public health guidance.