Photo by Tom Jenz
UMOS CEO Jose Martinez
UMOS CEO Jose Martinez
In the machinery of American industry, migrant workers are the invisible gears that move with the seasons, planting plants, tending fields, and picking orchards. Many arrive in the United States with a work contract and the hope of a better life. But hope doesn’t explain government forms, or how to register a child for school, or where to find a doctor who speaks your language.
For help, families often turn to UMOS, the Milwaukee-born nonprofit that has quietly grown into one of the country’s most influential service networks for farmworker and low-income communities.
Standing at the center of this effort is Jose Martinez, the organization’s president and CEO. He leads more than 800 employees and manages a budget topping $100 million, but numbers alone don’t capture the tone he sets. Martinez talks about the work as if the people UMOS serves are extended family, farmworkers, young parents, and children trying to adjust to a new environment. From its headquarters on the South Side Milwaukee, UMOS operates 54 programs across six states that include Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Texas and Wisconsin, each program tailored to meet families where they work.
Martinez himself is a product of that mission. Nearly three decades at UMOS have taken him through the ranks as director of child development, W-2 director, vice president of farmworker & community-based services, senior vice president, and finally the top job he holds now, president and CEO. Beyond UMOS, he chairs the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start CEO Affiliates, serves as vice chair of the national Head Start board, and leads both the Governor’s Council on Migrant Labor and the Wisconsin Farmworkers Coalition.
When we met in the UMOS conference room, the morning felt unhurried. Martinez communicates with the ease of someone who knows the weight of the work but carries it anyway. He talks about the families behind the statistics, parents trying to give their kids a better chance, workers who simply want a fair shot at stability. From Martinez, I gathered the scale of UMOS felt less like an operation and more like a promise.
Tell me about your background, parents, schools, neighborhoods and then your educational path and job career.
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I grew up as a farmworker child in Texas. I was the youngest of eight children, and my family would go up to Montana every season to pick the sugar beets. I was five years old when I started that work. Then, we’d go onto Michigan and pick cucumbers, blueberries, cherries, and then apples in September and October, and finally we’d head back home to Weslaco, Texas not far from the Mexican border. My mother made it to the third grade. My father came from Mexico to Texas to work in agriculture. He died of cancer at age 39 in 1977. My mother died in 2005.
Were you formally educated as a seasonal worker?
You might say that I grew up in the fields. As for my early education, I credit the government program Head Start, which began in 1965. In 1969, Migrant Head Start was created. When we were in Fairview, Montana, there was woman Head Start case manager who convinced my dad to send his youngest children to the Head Start school. Me and my sister went into Head Start. That is when I experienced formal learning and also my first movie theater. I was amazed when I saw that big picture screen in color. After a time, my dad realized that if he wanted a better life for his children, it would be through education. I credit Migrant Head Start for starting me on education.
Head Start is a federally funded initiative that provides early childhood education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to young children from low-income families.
So how did you eventually end up going to college?
After my dad passed away of cancer at 39, I was trying to figure out if I could go to college. At 17, I enlisted in the Army because I wanted to serve my country but also to advance my education. By 21, I had become a noncommissioned officer, and I left the Army and went to college in Texas. The Army reimbursed me for my course costs. I majored in biology and secondary education. During my college time, I joined the Army Reserves in the ROTC program where I got paid. I earned my degree in military science and signed up for another eight years of military service.
How did you get interested in working for UMOS in Milwaukee?
I had been in the Army for 11 years, and my assigned military base was closing. I ended up as a school teacher for a Christian-based organization in Arlington, Texas. I worked with children who had been abused or were runaways. Six months later, I was promoted to program director, and I was working long hours helping locate runaway children. I was always on call. Lot of pressure, and I experienced mental fatigue.
Is that when you started working for UMOS?
In 1995, I applied to UMOS in Milwaukee and was hired. I liked UMOS because it was providing services for families and children, and it was growing the program. My job was working in a Migrant Head Start program, which motivated me because of how I got started as a small kid. Eventually, I became a director and worked with the Federal government because of my interest in policy. Here I am, 30 years later, still with UMOS. What I’ve learned is that if you truly want to make an impact with families and children, it is at the local level. The Federal government can provide grants snf make policy, but the work is done locally.
What is your management style in leading the UMOS organization?
Before I became the president and CEO, I served in a lot of different UMOS roles and programs. In each program, I learned the federal and state policy and the programming aspects. Respect for a leader is earned in how you lead your team. I am here to serve my team, my staff, my clients. I ask each team member what is needed from me so that they can do their job well. We serve families and children from a holistic perspective. My role is to interact with our public and private partners and to work with them to better serve our community. I believe in a cooperative approach.
As a large non-profit, UMOS serves farmworker and low-income families with employment, education, health, and housing programs. Can you elaborate more on the UMOS mission?
In the 1960s, UMOS’ single purpose was serving the farmworker community, but later UMOS developed ties with the civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, and Reverend Jesse Jackson. This expanded our goals to serve all people in need including inner city African Americans.
On and day to day basis, what does UMOS do specifically?
We do employment training, early care and education, and social service. Under early care and education, we provide help for farmworkers in Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas. We do a transitional jobs program on both the Milwaukee north side and the south side and also in the northeastern part of Wisconsin. And we are collaborative in that we work with other organizations. We also have one of the larger human trafficking service programs. And we have programs to help domestic violence victims. We have an HIV program and a tobacco cessation program. We provide energy assistance in Milwaukee and Kenosha. We are also a W-2 Provider.
W-2 is a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program that provides employment preparation services, case management, and cash assistance to eligible families, specifically low-income parents, pregnant women, and children. The W-2 Program at UMOS is administrating Wisconsin Works, a state program helping low-income parents and families achieve economic self-sufficiency through employment.
Hypothetically, let’s say I am a farmworker here in the U.S. for temporary work much like your family used to do. How do I find UMOS to help me?
First, let me make it clear that we serve anybody in need of service, not just farmworkers. For instance, 40% of our Milwaukee clients are African American. We are not just Latino-based. We also serve refugees. But to your question, a farmworker new to an area can contact UMOS directly or any farm business that hires workers and also any outside agency we partner with. Generally, almost all farmworkers already know who we are.
Is it a condition that any people you help are required to work?
Many do work, but some do not because of low wages, for instance, in the inner city. But if we get a contract from the city or county, there is a higher wage requirement for business employers.
But aren’t employee wages at the discretion of the private sector businesses?
We work with the private sector to find higher paying jobs for our people, who could be unemployed or underemployed. We might also put them in a training program, for instance, learning the building trades.
What about single mothers in need of childcare? A low paying job won’t cover that cost.
Childcare is expensive, but some employers help with childcare costs. Programs like W-2 help people out of poverty and government dependency.
Traditionally, known as government welfare.
One problem is that the higher paying jobs are found on the outskirts of Milwaukee. This is why we case-manage, a triage approach to connect our people with services that help provide job training to eventually earn a sustainable wage. My proudest moment is when someone thanks me for what UMOS has done.
I strongly believe in education, that people have to be educated to get better jobs.
I agree, and we do need skilled labor in this country. Not everyone needs a college degree. There are vocational programs.
There are also trade schools and apprenticeships in the private sector.
Too many public schools don’t provide vocational training. And kids need technical training. Tech is where many job opportunities are now happening.
UMOS has close to 100 outside partners under the umbrellas of Childhood Development, Social Services, and Workforce Development. Can you tell me about a few of your programs? Let’s start with Childhood Development, which includes educational services and childcare.
Under the early childhood program, we have medical services for children, and we also partner with outside services like county governments and health centers. In rural communities, there can be a lack of childhood providers, but we work with county governments to fill that gap.
How might a young mother who is head of a farmworker family contact you?
She could contact local community health centers or any government agency. They have our information and can refer that mother to us. And we work closely with churches because many families are faith-based. We also have connections to homeless shelters in many cities. For instance, if the police find a family sleeping in a park, the police will call us. We can provide housing. If someone in poverty loses heat, they can call the 211 service, and we will arrange to repair or replace the furnace if necessary.
I understand you provide agricultural worker housing for farm worker families.
We provide seasonal housing in Minnesota and several Wisconsin cities, one city year-around. The rent is based on a sliding scale depending what families can afford, but they are always paying less than the market scale.
What is workforce development?
We identify unemployed individuals, provide job training, schooling, or work experience. That means the W-2 program and transitional jobs program. Our goal is to get the unemployed training so that they qualify for the higher paying jobs.
Do you serve people who are in this country illegally or undocumented?
We do not ask that question. We have a responsibility to serve families in need. However, if there is a grant involved, some grants require citizenship. But many do not.
UMOS is a nonprofit. What is the source of your funding?
98% of our funding comes from the federal government. We also have state grants and funding from nonprofit foundations. We are listed in the 211
The 211 service is funded through a hybrid model of private and public funding, and is primarily administered by local nonprofit organizations, such as United Way. It is not a federally funded program.
Anything you want to add?
It’s been a humbling experience working for UMOS these past 30 years.
For further information or assistance, contact the website umos.org or phone (414) 389-6000; 1-800-279-8667 (toll-free)
