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Click
on the speaker to the left to listen to the dinner
speech by Mary Gonzalez-Koenig, President, CEO
and founder of NLEI. |
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Mary Gonzalez-Koenig
NLEI
President, CEO & Founder |
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Mary dedicates one hundred percent of her time and energy
to the Latino community by providing opportunities for
families, especially for youth and emerging generations,
to overcome social barriers and enhance their quality
of life through education and job training.
Mary Gonzalez-Koenig is an excellent example of how individuals can achieve greatness in spite of obstacles through flexibility, tenacity, perseverance and purposeful action. The fourth of eight children, and oldest daughter of Mexican immigrants, Mary was born and raised in the city of Chicago. Her father labored as a blue-collar worker and her mother, a dedicated homemaker. Her parents, like many immigrant families today, had to assimilate into an American lifestyle while teaching their children to embrace their Mexican heritage. Growing up in a dual-culture, Mary understood that just like her family, many other immigrant families came to the United States in pursuit of a better life. However, she was also aware of the many conflicts and obstacles that impeded immigrant families from realizing that life.
Mary's long career of community and public service began in the early 1960's. While working at a Settlement House, she became actively involved in grass-roots movements advocating employment and training programs for the poor. During that time, communities were developing resources and debating strategies to fully engage in governmental initiatives that were being formulated as part of the "Great Society" and the "War on Poverty" programs. During the 1970's, while doing community work, she was also dedicated to raising her family in the Pilsen area, a port-of-entry and a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Chicago where the majority of families are Mexican immigrants. Mary is a proud mother of four with thirteen grandchildren and in her community work has always instituted the notion of family integrity as the focal point of all her endeavors.
One of Mary’s greatest achievements was the founding in 1972 of the Spanish Coalition for Jobs, Inc. (SCJ), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing economic development programs to community residents such as job placement, skills training, and educational and supportive services. SCJ was born out of a grass-roots effort by community agencies. These agencies, headed by working-class families and neighbors, advocated for Affirmative Action, equal opportunity and recognition of Latino participation in the workforce at fortune 500 corporations.
From humble beginnings in the back of a delicatessen shop, this budding organization eventually became one of the largest Latino employment, training and advocacy non-profit agencies in Illinois. SCJ is also a nationally accredited business and training center approved by the Illinois State Board of Education and the U.S. Department of Education.
After more than thirty - one years in service and thousands of lives changed, SCJ continues its programs while frequently introducing new initiatives for its constituency. Other examples abound of Mary’s vision and dynamic leadership. To address the problem of severe overcrowding of public schools in the Pilsen community, she was one of the leaders initiating the successful drive to build an additional high school, today known as Benito Juarez High School.
Once the project began, she spearheaded and monitored the Affirmative Action policies in construction contracts and employment participation to insure that residents of the community benefited from this successfully fought for project.
In 1979, after realizing the significant lack of Latinos behind and in front of media cameras of local television stations, she founded and became Chairperson of the Latino Council On the Media (LCOM). LCOM is an organization dedicated to increasing the hiring and promotion of Latinos in print and electronic journalism. The positive impact of this movement can be seen in Chicago’s media to this day. Other objectives include, student internships, economic development, community involvement/support and balanced portrayal of Latinos to combat the constant negative stereotypical reporting of our community.
In recognition of her leadership qualities in 1989, Chicago’s Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Mary to serve as Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Employment and Training, a position she held for five years. There she was successful in bringing together business, educators, and government to develop the “YES Chicago” school-to-work transition programs. She subsequently became the Executive Director of Corporate Services and Enrollment Management at the City Colleges of Chicago, a position she held for four years.
Knowing first-hand, from her experience in serving the community, the absence of quality education programs and a lack of vital job skills, especially in Latino and other neglected communities, gave Mary valuable insight in developing successful job training programs for the city of Chicago. During her time in city government, she never lost sight of community needs. After this period in the public sector, in March of 1999, Mary returned to once again lead SCJ as President and CEO.
Through the years Mary has served on many civic, business, neighborhood and service organizations such as the Pilsen-Neighbors Community Council, the Metropolitan Economic Development Alliance, The National Council of La Raza, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Chicago Boys and Girls Club, and Voices for Illinois Children. Mary has received numerous awards for her civic and community contributions, including as Honorary Degree of Doctor of Public Service by the College of Office Technology in Chicago and the distinguished National Hispanic Hero Award of the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Conference.
Mary is an individual of sharp intellect and remarkable community organization skills. She is a compassionate human being, a keen negotiator, and a committed advocate for the needy. She is able to function at ease both at the highest level of government and corporate environments as well as at the grassroots level.
She has an uncanny ability to negotiate the maze of bureaucratic guidelines and create pragmatic solutions to seemingly intractable problems. Mary is an able mediator and an alliance builder.
Mary believes that the community has been enriched not only by the thousands of individual 'success stories' that have emerged from SCJ, but by the dedication and vision of all who have worked so hard and who have been so dedicated. As Mary frequently states, "The credit of more than three decades of growth and success of Spanish Coalition for Jobs lies in the spirit and determination of its students, staff and board."
The extraordinary commitments and dynamic leadership described above are not considered a “job” for Mary, but rather a lifestyle for her. In the many years of public service, her commitment to the community and her career in social service have become one. As the founder, and now as President and CEO of Spanish Coalition for Jobs, Inc., Mary’s dedication to the continuation and vigor of this organization is a twenty-four hour a day occupation for her. She is constantly brainstorming new initiatives to implement into SCJ in order to better serve and benefit the community. |
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