Opening of world-class conference center fulfills Chavez’s dream of training new generations of activists

La Paz, Keene, Calif. – Cesar Chavez’s dream of an educational center to train future generations of dedicated activists is one step closer to reality with the grand opening Saturday of Villa La Paz, a sprawling world-class conference and retreat center in the restored mission-style structures where Chavez held community gatherings and sessions with movement leaders at his headquarters in the Tehachapi Mountains (29700 Woodford-Tehachapi Rd., Keene, Calif. 93531).

    The sprawling conference center is the latest addition to the National Chavez Center on 187 acres set amid oaks and spectacular rock outcroppings at the small Tehachapi Mountain hamlet of Keene where the United Farm Workers founder lived and worked during his last 22 years.

    Also on the grounds of La Paz is a 7,000-square foot visitor center hosting Chavez’s carefully preserved office and library as well as photographic galleries, a multi-media room and book store plus beautifully landscaped memorial gardens where Chavez is buried. Housed in a renovated complex originally built as a county-run tuberculosis sanitarium in 1929, Villa La Paz is operated by the non-profit Cesar Chavez Foundation. The new 17,000-square foot conference center can accommodate up to 400 people with two large meeting halls, breakout rooms, a lecture hall, multi-purpose room, outdoor patios and executive meeting rooms.

    Chavez moved his headquarters from Delano to La Paz at Keene in 1971, at least in part because he wanted a place to develop future leaders to carry on his work.

    The Chavez foundation is working to make Villa La Paz “a beacon of hope and inspiration, a world-class conferencing and retreat facility,” said Paul Chavez, Cesar’s middle son and president of the Chavez foundation. “Here, farm worker and Latino activists and other advocates for the poor and disadvantaged from rural communities and urban centers across our nation can come to develop their skills and plan their strategies in the shadow of my father’s legacy. Then they can go forth to serve farm workers and other good causes.”

For more, see: http://www.masbakersfield.com/content/ufw-re-opens-former-medical-facility-keene