México honors EOC director Emilia Reyes, Radio Bilingüe founder Hugo Morales

She was the third child born into a Mexican immigrant family familiar with the backbreaking field work near Mendota.

He was the second son born into a Mixteco family in Oaxaca too poor to afford a radio. The family moved to California where the fields welcomed them.

Emilia Reyes realized that an education was the ticket to a better future, so the Firebaugh High School graduate went to UC Santa Cruz and earned her degree in economics and business administration. That, and a subsequent masters in business administration from Cal State Domínguez Hills, paved her way to becoming the first woman and the first Latina to lead the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission.

Hugo Morales excelled in high school and accepted a scholarship to Harvard, where he earned a degree in law. However, he never wanted to become a lawyer. Rather, he wanted to start a radio network that would provide information in various languages to the community. That was how Radio Bilingüe was born.

Their trajectory was noted on a chilly Nov. 18 evening when Mexican General Consul Adriana González Carrillo bestowed the Ohtli Award on Reyes and the Distinguished Mexican Award on Morales.

The San Joaquín Valley, said González Carrillo, is home to “people with the lowest income rates. People that with effort and discipline overcome adversity, standing out for their hard work and commitment with their community.”

“Our two awardees have lived this reality,” she said. “They have dedicated their lives to the community, paving the road for other Mexicans and Mexican Americans, whose walk will be easier because of Emilia’s and Hugo’s work.”

Reyes: “One of the most humbling experiences in my life”

The Ohtli Award is given to Mexican citizens who work abroad and have supported Mexican citizens or promoted their culture. It is the highest honor the Mexican government awards to someone living abroad.

Reyes, who captained her high school soccer team, ran into obstacles on her higher education journey.

While in college,her sister was murdered and many expected her to return home and end her studies..

“I struggled not being fully prepared for college and academically being ready. I struggled financially. I didn’t have enough money as a student,” she said.

“I had a lot of discouragement from my male professors, and the hardest thing was losing my sisters actually being murdered and having to deal with that.”

Reyes said dropping out was not an option.

“I graduated because I have been blessed with this optimism, this faith and determination and perseverance, and plain old stubbornness,” said Reyes.

After college, she became a single mother who had to balance raising a son with her career. She gained something more than a son.

“As a young mom, I faced many challenges,” said Reyes, who began to question authority and systems “that were not made for my son.”

“By raising my son, I found a new passion, a new calling for helping others.”

For 16 years, Reyes was executive director of Fresno First Five, which provides services and support for the county’s youngest residents up to age 5.

But being asked to run First Five was not an easy offer to accept. “I was scared. I was like, ‘No, I can’t. I’m not ready for this.’ I didn’t have any mentors or someone to look to to tell me that being a leader in this community was actually a possibility.”

Thinking about her nieces “and our younger generation of girls of color,” gave her the courage to take the job. “I found that courage because I was willing to do this for others,” she said.

Then, she was chosen in 2020 to run the Fresno EOC, which provides a myriad services ranging from Head Start, to an LGBTQ+ resource center, to Advance Peace, to WIC, to weatherization programs and more.

“I was eager and grateful to accept the position, to be the first woman of color to manage the largest community action agency in the nation,” said Reyes. “It was simply a dream.”

That path “was not in my original plan,” she said. “As we all know, the best plans can be changed based on the path we and others create.

“I could never, ever change a future as big as the one I am living today. And I would not be here today if it were not for those who created paths before me.”

Reyes accepted the Ohtli Award in memory of her father, who died three months ago.

“I know he is proud that his daughter shared her passion and love and commitment to serve the community.”

Morales: Harvard radio program was prototype for Radio Bilingüe

The former University of California trustee and a winner of the MacArthur Genius Award can trace the beginnings of Radio Bilingüe to growing up in Oaxaca.

Candido Morales, his older brother, recalled in the late 1950s when villagers tuned in to the radio when boxers like Ratón Macías, ‘El Pajarito’ Moreno and others were fighting for world titles.

“Hugo admired how radio could impact and reach so many people,” he said in Spanish.

At Harvard, Morales met Juan Arámbula, who was also the son of Mexican farmworkers.

“Hugo and I worked together on college radio, providing live programming for Latino and Puerto Rican audiences in the Boston area,” said Arámbula, a former state Assemblymember. “I was his technical engineer and he was the one in charge of preparing the programs.”

Morales and Arámbula found themselves in Fresno, where Morales started Radio Bilingüe in 1976 and raised funds with menudo sales.

That’s when Arámbula and his wife, Amy, told Morales he should apply for grants to build what is now the largest Latino public radio network with 13 FM stations in California and others throughout the U.S. Its broadcasts reach into México and Puerto Rico.

Arámbula said Morales could have chosen a legal profession and done well.

“Hugo has never failed. He has never lacked the heart to do what has to be done, nor has he lacked the head to know how to do it,” said Arámbula. “And, all this he does with grace. I imagine this comes from his parents and his ancestors: A sense of obligation to the community.”

Morales, who began school at age 3 at his insistence, said Radio Bilingüe “literally gave the microphones to people in the community.”

“It was not just our voices,” said Morales. “We gave, and we are giving, the microphone specifically to farmworkers, to women.”