Guest Column
Dionicio Morales, MAOF Founder, to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award
Hispanic Business magazine editor and publisher Jesús Chavarría announced that Mexican American Opportunity Foundation (MAOF) founder Dionicio Morales will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the magazine’s annual EOY Awards Gala which honors the top Hispanic entrepreneurs in the United States. The EOY Awards will be held on Thursday, November 9 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, and will feature 15 of the nation’s top Hispanic entrepreneurs in industry-specific categories.
“Dionicio Morales has been one of the most consistent and enduring advocates for the empowerment of U.S. Hispanics in the 20th century” stated Chavarría. "I can't think of anyone who deserves the Lifetime Achievement Award more than Dionicio."
After working as a federal compliance officer for the Department of Labor, Morales, who was born in Arizona two weeks after his mother crossed the Mexican border, saw the need for job development and training among California Hispanics. He founded the MAOF in 1963 (called Equal Opportunity Foundation at the time). By 1965, the MAOF received its first federal grant to provide job training and new careers through education.
"Mexican Americans had a hard time getting together because they couldn't agree what the issue was…But everybody wants a job and better earning power. So I found that was the easiest issue to use to attract people with differing philosophies…It was the most non-debatable issue” Morales stated in a May 2003 article in Hispanic Business magazine.
Today, the MAOF is the largest Latino-based, community-orientated, non-profit organization in the United States. Spanning over 7 counties, the MAOF provides services to over 100,000 Californians, 95 percent of which earn a low to moderate level income. MAOF’s programs include child care and development, resource and referral, alternative payment programs, senior and disabled services, welfare to work employment services, youth programs, a food bank, financial literacy and computer literacy education.
MAOF at: http://www.maof.org
Hispanic Business Magazine at: http://www.hispanicbusiness.com
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