Wilfredo Rojas, a lifetime legacy
«It is important to celebrate the accomplishments of our fellow activists and let them know that their efforts make a difference,» said Nayda Cintron, community activist, Founder of Norris Square Community Alliance, and Founding Director of Norris Square.
During Hispanic Heritage Month, we celebrate our culture and each other. During the annual Puerto Rican flag-raising City Hall event, Maria Quiñones praised Wilfredo for his tireless work and sacrifice. Many familiar faces from the past forty years of Philadelphia activism witnessed Wilfredo Rojas, M.Ed honored by his peers and city and state government officials.
Wilfredo Rojas understands hardships very well and has overcome many. He was born in the small town of Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, and was adopted. His new parents brought him to live in North Philadelphia, where many Puerto Rican families had migrated. As a child, he worked with his mother and adoptive sisters as day-haul farmworkers to help pay his parochial school tuition. He holds a master’s degree in counselor education from Antioch University Philadelphia.
Wilfredo was honored with a City of Philadelphia Proclamation by City Councilperson David Oh, a Lifetime Achievement Award for helping to establish the 180th legislative district, a recognition by Captain Ortiz of the 26th police district for his work in establishing the first Puerto Rican town watch. Senator Christine Tartaglione recognized Wilfredo’s service to the community by awarding him a Pennsylvania Senate Proclamation.
Nayda Cintron, an event organizer, also presented Wilfredo with a Lifetime Achievement recognition as a founder of the Norris Square Community Alliance. It was a beautiful and emotional ceremony and gathering of Puerto Rican community activists of the past forty years.
A few days later, Wilfredo was honored by 6ABC for his lifetime work in the community. Dan Cuellar from 6ABC remembered Wilfredo (then known as (hawk-eye) as the teenage co-founder of the Philadelphia City Council of the Young Lords. As a teenager and student at Saint Peter the Apostle, he and Juan Ramos organized fellow students to protest the racially and ethnically harsh treatment of students of color.
Wilfredo co-founded the Puerto Rican Alliance and the Philadelphia National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights
Wilfredo was the co-founder and first director of the Philadelphia Prison System’s executive level Office of Community Justice and Outreach. Currently, he is a member of the East Greenwich Township Joint Planning/Zoning Board. He co-founded a host of influential organizations focused on issues of equality and justice. He was the former 1st vice president and communications chair of the Gloucester County NAACP, advocating and organizing actions demanding justice and equality.
On January 24th of, 2015, His 34-year-old son, Alejandro Rojas García, an honor roll student at Temple University, was murdered. Wilfredo and I are both justice advocates, reunited and co-founded the National Homicide Justice Alliance with the mission of organizing and empowering families of homicide victims to get justice.
«I have never forgotten where I come from. It wasn’t my job to help, but it has always been my passion,» said Wilfredo Rojas.
