avier Gonzalez SOL Executive Director Inspired by His Family Javier was born and raised in the Westside in Los Angeles. While Javier's Great Grand parents were the first in his family to arrive from Jalisco, Mexico each generation since has maintained firm roots in both the Valle de Guadalupe, Jalisco Mexico and in California. Early on, Javier learned the value of hard work and sacrifice by working with his father as a janitor, gardener and later as a mechanic. On regular family trips to Mexico Javier learned the values of community, family and working together. "In our small town everyone understands that our lives are tied together and that by working together we can survive even when times are hard. Times just always seem to be hard." To Fight for a Better LifeGrowing up in the extreme youth violence that rocked Los Angeles in the 1990s, Javier followed many of his friends and family into a whirlpool of lost youth. "Looking back, we were a pack of lost kids whose stories were identical: poverty, rough home lives, and parents that either had alcohol problems, always worked or didn't work well together." After barely graduating form high school and working a number of "going-nowhere" service jobs, Javier met Ron Wilkins - a leader in LA's 60s Black power movement. "Ron talked to me about Che Guevara, Malcolm X and Emiliano Zapata. Ron saw in me something I did not see in myself. through his influence I learned that we could work to make life better and that there was a role for me. I read the Autobiography of Malcolm X and I was hooked." Later, working with friends Javier helped organize several trips to Chiapas, Mexico where he saw first hand extremely poor and desperate indigenous communities struggle for a better life with a dignity, respect, passion and innocence he had never experienced. To this day, the organization, commitment and struggle of the people Javier met in Chiapas are the bar he sets for his work and those around him. Bringing Together Years of Labor and Community Organizing Experience After graduating from UCLA, Javier escaped a brief stint in a UCLA PhD program to work as a community organizer under the leadership of Anthony Thigpenn in South Los angeles, and later with Day Laborers in the Garment district in LA. Soon Javier became an experienced Wage and Hour Investigator for the Justice for Janitors movement where he led the field work for the largest janitorial wage and hour lawsuit in American History. "We found janitors being brought over from Mexico and working 10 hours a day, seven days a week for about $3 an hour at some of the largest and most prestigious supermarket chains in America." The 2000 Justice for Janitors Strike brought out in Javier that same euphoria he felt in Chiapas. It gave him hope that if we work hard, build our resources and continue to grow and be strategic we could make change. Putting Hard Work and Sacrifice into Politics After many years as a Union Organizer Javier became the Political Director of SEIU Local 1877, better known as Justice for Janitors. Javier began to work closely with key Union leaders to build one of the largest and most dynamic election field machines in America. Javier focused on the members of the Union and how they could change politics in Southern California and in the process change themselves. "It was great to see the confidence and assertiveness change in the members. I always said, we not fighting for politicians, we are fighting for our place in America." It was Javier who approached Union President Mike Garcia with an idea to expand all of the great Latino Civic Participation work Unions had done in the 1990s with a permanent and year round organization that would not only perfect the electoral strategy, but also create [and idea and noise machine] for Immigrant voices and conduct voter registration. Hence SOL. As the Executive Director of SOL, Javier is putting years of experience and inspiration into one of the most dynamic up-and-coming organizations in the Nation. Javier brings an exuberant and energetic 'Si Se Puede' attitude to everything he does while the janitors, hotel workers, laborers, and community leaders drive the work of SOL and inspire current and future generations. Javier Gonzalez is 34 and has two beautiful daughters, Melanie and Sienna, and they are proud to call Hawthorne their home.