Service Spotlight-Anton Flores

So when I decided I would like to feature Human Services professionals whose work and passion inspire me, Anton Flores of Alterna was an easy decision for my first Service Spotlight! He left a tenured position as a Human Services professor at La Grange College to co-found Alterna and was named Atlanta Latino's Person of the Year in 2009.

OK I have to confess what my family already knows, I joking-not-jokingly refer to him as my "Online Spiritual Role Model." The best example of why, is found here or below.

So you may wonder (especially if you're not in Human Services) why someone would walk away from a salary to making no salary. I think the best example can be found below ;)

I first met Anton at a Board of Regents of the University System of GA public hearing in 2006. These were the hearings where board members told the media they made their decision BEFORE the hearings and then did NOT EVEN SHOW UP to the hearings! I don't remember at all what I said, but I remember that Anton brought his diploma and was offering to give it up so that "undocumentable"students would still have the chance to win in-state tuition in lottery drawings at their colleges and universities.

He is known for organizing a Holy Week Pilgrimage for Immigrants where in Marietta Americans wash the feet of immigrants, some wearing ICE ankle monitors. (Yes, comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable just seems to come naturally to Anton!)


If you're wondering how you can help, this is just one way, and there are more on alterna's website...

If you want to know more, I would recommend his interview with JesusRadicals.com (the have also featured Dr. Cornel West!), his four-part "Justice Crosses Boarders" lecture at La Grange College, and another video of his advocacy in action.