Milwaukee- Lupe Martinez has devoted his entire 45-year professional career to improving the living and working conditions of migrant and seasonal farm workers at UMOS. Lupe Martinez, himself, is a former migrant worker whose family traveled throughout the Midwest harvesting crops.
Lupe Martinez is President and Chief Executive Officer of UMOS, whose mission is to advocate and provide programs and services that improve the employment, educational, health and housing opportunities of underserved populations. On July25, 2014 Martinez will be recognized for serving 45 years at UMOS, 40 years as President/CEO. The recognition will take place at the UMOS Annual Corporation Awards and Recognition Luncheon at the Clarion Hotel.
When Mr. Martinez was appointed President/CEO, in 1974,UMOS was a single state, single-focused migrant serving agency only. Today, under Mr. Martinez’s leadership, UMOS is nationally recognized organization, administering 40+ programs. UMOS is the largest Hispanic-managed, non-profit organization in Wisconsin, and one of the largest in the nation. UMOS operates throughout the state of Wisconsin, as well as in Minnesota, Missouri, and Texas.
Mr. Martinez advocates for under-served populations at the local, state and national level, with a particular focus onimproving the quality of life for migrant and seasonal farm workers. At the national level, he is chairman of the National Farmworker Alliance, comprised of 23 national trade associations and farmworker organizations. He sits of the board of Farmworker Justice, a national non-profit that works closely with federal officials on immigration reform and the potential impacts on agricultural workers. Mr. Martinez also served six years on the board of the National Council of La Raza.
Also, on the national level, Mr. Martinez is chairman of MAFO, a national partnership of farmworker and rural organizations that has sponsored a national farmworker conference for the past 26 years. In 2014, Lupe Martinez presented the MAFO Lifetime Achievement Award to Arturo Rodriguez who succeeded Cesar Chavez as President of United Farmworkers. Mr. Martinez marched side-by-side with Cesar Chavez during the grape boycott that ended in 1970.
At the state level, Mr. Martinez continued his fight for farmworker rights. He was appointed by Governor Doyle to sit on the Wisconsin Council on Migrant Labor, a statutory council that enforces the state’s migrant labor laws. Today, under Governor Walker, Martinez is the interim chairman of the Council. Lupe Martinez is also President of the Wisconsin Migrant Coalition, comprised of farmworker serving agencies throughout the state.
At the local level, Mr. Martinez is a member of the executivecommittee of the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board.Every month, 20,000 people, on average walk through the doors of the UMOS Job Center on Chase Avenue for employment related services.
Mr. Martinez and UMOS, through input from the community, created the UMOS Latina Resource Center. The UMOS Latina Resource Center was the first and is still the only center that provides domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking supportive services under one roof, targeted to Hispanic women.
Through Mr. Martinez’s leadership and mentorship, many of the individual community and non-profit leaders today, formally worked under his leadership. Lupe Martinez’s philosophy is to treat every customer, every client, as if he or she were your aunt or uncle, brother of sister and to serve them with dignity and honesty and to go the extra mile in making a difference in their lives.
Lupe Martinez has made the difference in the lives of thousands. Although Lupe does not show any signs of retirement, some would say he has already achieved a lifetime of accomplishments over his 45 years (and counting) of service to others. As Martinez puts it, “It is a privilege to serve others.”
