2010 Keynote Speaker
Patrick M. Velasquez, Ph.D.
Patrick M. Velasquez, Ph.D.
South Omaha Visionary Leader
by Reynaldo Cervantes
Patrick M. Velasquez, Ph.D. is an energetic, smart, committed and visionary leader who left his legacy not only with respect
to the Chicano Awareness Center, now known as the “Latino Center of the Midlands”, but on the entire city of Omaha. We are indeed proud to welcome Dr. Velasquez
back to Omaha where he started his vaunted and storied career.
South Omaha was once called "The Magic City" because of the seemingly overnight growth due to the rapid development of the Union Stockyards and was annexed by
the City of Omaha in 1915. South Omaha was, and continues to be, culturally diverse. Many residents are descended from the Irish, Polish, Czech, Lithuanian, Italian,
and Latino immigrants who made up the original workforce in the meatpacking industry.
In 1955, Omaha's livestock market became the largest in the world. Every day, thousands of cattle, hogs and sheep were shipped, first by rail and later by trucks,
to Omaha's pens where they would be sold to packinghouses for slaughter or to other livestock producers for fattening or breeding stock. The numbers from the late
40s and 50s were staggering. But in 1967, the number of livestock brought to Omaha dropped precipitously. The old "Big Four" packinghouses Swift, Armour, Cudahy or
Wilson, all of who had packing plants next to the Omaha Stockyards – saw their market shares decline, so they weren't buying as many head from Omaha Stockyards. A
few short years later they closed, unemployment spiked, the business district was shuttered and the community began a slow and painful death. The Chicano Awareness
Center was born out of the civil rights movement and the trials and tribulations experienced by the victims of the packinghouse closings.
The Chicano Awareness Center (CAC), was organized in 1971 with a central mission to provide cultural programming and social services to facilitate a smooth transition
from a manufacturing environment to at the time a certain new way of life in South Omaha. During its initial stages, the center was backed almost exclusively by
genuinely committed community members and religious organizations such as the Lutheran and Methodist churches. But, the needs of the center were growing in direct
proportion to the depression left by the packinghouse closings. With funding receding, a sense of urgency set in and the CAC board of directors hired Patrick M.
Velasquez as its executive director.
Patricio was a local Chicano, born and raised in South Omaha who turned out to be exactly what the center needed. He was a young energetic, smart, committed and
visionary leader who left his legacy not only with the Chicano Awareness Center—as well as on the South Omaha Community and the entire city of Omaha. His actions
and tireless efforts were responsible for the survival of the Center who would have most likely disappeared without his efforts.
Upon his hiring he set his plan into action, the first thing Patricio did was to secure funding from the United Way of the Midlands. It was a relatively small
amount but enough to pay the bills and keep the agency going. He then set out to ensure that young Chicanos went on the college or trade schools. He also worked
very closely with Omaha South High and set-up lines of accountability with counselors of young Chicano students in a collaborative effort to ensure accountability
and assistance designed to assist the student in getting his/her high school diploma. Today, the Center has evolved into the premier social service agency providing
cultural transition, education, social and health services to the growing Latino population in Nebraska.
There can be no doubt that his efforts were visionary and instrumental in the state South Omaha is today. Because of his visionary leadership along with business
and community leaders, they have over time managed to turn the city’s cultural diversity into an important element within a proven matrix succeeding in the face of a
global and national recession. Omaha’s ever-changing skyline, dotted with major building projects, rapidly turning blighted areas into productive and thriving
communities. Omaha now is one of the best places in to live in America. This recognition did not occur in a vacuum. As the saying goes “A rising tide lifts all ships”,
typifies a city where the rising tide of economic and community development is raising all parts of the city, including South Omaha. Thank you Dr. Velasquez!
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