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CSUB celebrates Dolores Huerta on her 90th birthday

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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — On Friday we celebrate Dolores Huerta.

The civil rights activist turns 90 on April 10, the same day that former Governor Jerry Brown designated as Dolores Huerta Day in 2018.

Co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association, which would later become the united Farm Workers Association, Dolores worked alongside Cesar Chavez for the rights of farm workers throughout the country.

Now Huerta is the founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, an organization that empowers and builds leadership in low-income communities.

She has received numerous awards and recognitions over her career, including The Eleanor Roosevelt Humans Rights Award from President Bill Clinton, the Kern County Woman of The Year Award from the California state legislature, the Ohtli Award from the Mexican government, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.

Huerta's work has touched the lives of people throughout the nation and state, including right here in Kern County.

That's why faculty and staff leaders at California State University of Bakersfield took the time to wish Huerta a feliz cumpleaños.

In the video, CSUB President Lynette Zelenzy and other faculty members describe how Huerta has inspired them.

Claudia Catota, Chief Diversity Officer for CSUB, said that it was through Huerta's example that she learned, "the power of organizing and the importance of people power."