Purpose Prize

Marc Freedman Portrait

The Latest from CoGenerate

Documentary Brings the Beauty of Cogeneration to PBS

Documentary Brings the Beauty of Cogeneration to PBS

A new documentary film, Ink & Linda, chronicles the unexpected friendship between Inksap, a Vietnamese-American street artist in his 20s, and Linda, a white modern dance teacher in her 70s. Shortly after a chance encounter brings these two together, they begin...

Announcing the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity

Announcing the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity

We’re out to show the world that older and younger people can help solve pressing problems when they work together. To that end, today we’re launching the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity, a partnership with the Ares Charitable Foundation to elevate...

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Dolores Huerta

Dolores Huerta Foundation
Purpose Prize Fellow 2007

Fighting for civil rights for the rural poor in California's San Joaquin Valley.

Dolores Huerta has put in more than five decades organizing and advocating for farm workers. But her earlier work organizing boycotts, negotiating union contracts, and lobbying lawmakers as co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association – later known as the United Farm Workers Union – left many of the bigger-picture needs of the workers unmet. So when, at age 72, the Puffin Foundation gave Huerta a $100,000 “Creative Citizen” award, she used the funds to establish her long-time dream: the Dolores Huerta Foundation. Since 2003, the Foundation has established Vecinos (Neighbors) Action Committees in the San Joaquin Valley in California. The committees educate workers on issues such as voters’ rights, immigration law, health and safety issues, and college opportunities. The committees also have won local victories to improve youth recreation programs and repeal utility rate increases. Huerta plans to expand the organizing model statewide.