The CURE Board of Directors

Edward Gonzalez, Jr.
Edward Gonzalez, Jr., was born in East Harlem, the eldest of eight children of a family of Puerto Rican migrants. Though financial need drove him to leave school and seek employment as an unskilled factory laborer, he soon rose to a skilled position. From the ages of sixteen to twenty-five, at the request of both his employer and the United Shoe Workers of America, he helped assimilate recent arrivals from Puerto Rico into the “culture” of “industrial work and labor relations.” During this period, he returned to night school and also became a union organizer. Over the following twenty years, he worked full time while completing high school, college, and earning a graduate degree as an Evening Division/ Part Time student.

After he left the Labor Movement, he worked four years as an Employment Counselor, with the Migration Division of the Department of Labor, of Puerto Rico. He then left to become Director of Counseling for a Youth Training Project, sponsored by the Police Athletic League of New York City. From there went on to work in the War on Poverty Program of both the Federal Government and the City of New York, before leaving for Cornell University.

Edward then taught at Cornell University for the next twenty-one years, where he conducted Adult Education/ Leadership Training activities for Latino workers, Union and Community Based Activists. He developed curriculum, administered projects, administered grants and developed grant applications, and coordinated and led workshops and conferences, both foreign and domestic. He was often the subject of radio and television interviews, and he trained staff for public, nonprofit, labor, and management organizations. He entered the field of conflict resolution and arbitration as a disciplinary hearing officer, rendering over twenty-five decisions.

In 1985, Mr. Gonzalez was nominated by Governor of New York Mario Cuomo to serve as a public member of the Public Works Advisory Board, which was responsible for maintaining and adjudicating prevailing wages in public works construction projects. His nomination was subsequently ratified by the New York State Senate, drawing support from both sides of the aisle.

Upon relocating to California, Edward Gonzalez became a part-time community college instructor in labor studies and a private consultant for career independence and adult education. He resided in Santa Cruz County, with his wife, Helen Rodrigues-Trias, MD., from 1990 until her death in 2001, whereupon he returned to his native New York City, where he is now the Director of Couching and Employment Counseling services for the Morton Prince Mental Health Center.