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Ernesto CortésÌýis the Co-Director of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), which provides leadership training and civics education to poor and moderate-income people across the US and UK. He is also the Director of the West / Southwest IAF which consists of 30 broad-based organizations spanning ten states including: California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska and Iowa. Cortés’ affiliation with the IAF began in 1972, after participating in the organization’s leadership training institute in Chicago. In 1974, Cortés organized the San Antonio Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS), the well-known and highly successful church-based organization of San Antonio’s West and South side communities. Cortés has been honored by the MacArthur Foundation, the Heinz Foundation and the John F. Kennedy School of Government in recognition of his accomplishments in the field of community organizing. He completed a year-long fellowship as a Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cortés is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where he majored in English and Economics. He has received honorary degrees from Princeton University, Rutgers University, Southern Methodist University, the University of Houston, Occidental and St. Edward’s University.