Network Aztlan Latino Chicano Comunidades Transnacionales

Community Service Organization Finds New Purpose in Old Ways

Newspaper article: Exclusive to Eastern Group Publications. Eastside Sun. 2/8/01

In the years immediately following World War II, the Mexican American population in greater Los Angeles had ballooned to around 250,000 people.

Yet by 1946, not a single Mexican American or Latino was represented on the city council or the state legislature, and Los Angeles could not even boast of having any civil rights or community rights organizations dedicated to representing the interests of Mexican Americans.

All that changed with the emergence of the Community Service Organization, or CSO, in Boyle Heights in 1947.

Founded as an independent organization by labor activists, socialists, liberal Democrats and a few radicals, the CSO quickly emerged as a powerhouse in Eastside politics. Two years after its founding, it helped propel Edward Roybal to the Los Angeles city council—an event that signaled the birth of Latino participation in California's political landscape.

Over the years the CSO also trained dozens of talented organizers and activists, including such legendary figures as Cesar Chavez, Tony Rios, Dolores Huerta, and the recently deceased Bert Corona.

On Saturday February 3rd, the Centro-CSO—a direct descendent of the original CSO—hosted an open house party and poetry reading at its new location at 511 Echandia Street, just nortl1 of Avenida Cesar Chavez in Boyle Heights.

What was clear from the event is that today's CSO is as dedicated to addressing progressive issues as the original CSO was over 50 years ago.

For example, hanging all around the walls of their new headquarters were posters and flyers screaming populist slogans such as "Hasta la victoria siempre," "Human needs not corporate greed," and "Free Mumia.'

Carlos Montes, current head of Centro-CSO, explained that many of these came from last summer's Democratic National Convention protests, when they joined ranks with another organization called New Raza Left to demand economic, political and social empowerment for Latinos.

"We protested next to a lot of other groups representing a variety of causes, but we wanted to make sure we represented the interests of Chicanos and Mexican Americans," said Montes, who has been with the CSO since 1977. "We involved young leaders in demanding self-determination in our own communities, both here and in the Southwest."

Clearly, today's Centro-CSO is much more active than the CSO of the last decade which by 1998 had grown so stale and top-heavy they were forced to sell their red-brick headquarters on the corner of First and Chicago streets, and subsequently nearly folded because of lack of funds.

''During the 1960s and 70s, the CSO had moved towards becoming more of a service provider, offering a credit union and ESL and citizenship classes—which is all good," explained Montes. ''But the organization was plagued by mismanagement, they weren't paying their taxes, and they had allowed their building to fall into disrepair. Basically they didn't have a good base from which to work in the community.

"Today our goal is to get the CSO back to its original roots—back to its goals of organizing the community and finding and training young organizers and community leaders," he said.