At 4-years-old, Jose Martinez was already learning the value of hard work, picking sugar beets alongside his family in the migrant fields of Texas.
“At the end of the season, I was given 25 cents,” said Martinez, the youngest of nine children raised in Weslaco, Texas. “To me, it was like 25 million dollars.”
Martinez now leads an agency created in 1965 to improve living conditions and meet the needs of migrant farmworkers in Wisconsin.
That agency – UMOS – provides services, including child care, workforce development and other social services aimed at migrant workers and others.
Martinez served as interim president and chief executive officer of UMOS since January before assuming the full-time role in September.
Leonor Rosas, a former UMOS workforce development manager, who retired several years ago, worked with Martinez for over 15 years. She described him as meticulous, well organized and thoughtful.
“Every program that he supervised, he knew all the requirements, benchmarks and outcomes,” Rosas said. “I think he was outstanding in his work.”
Replacing Lupe Martinez
Martinez succeeds Lupe Martinez, who ran the organization for nearly 50 years, before retiring and being named president emeritus in January.
“I am confident he has the institutional knowledge, the management skills and the focus toward the future to strategically lead UMOS to new heights,” said Lupe Martinez.
Jose Martinez said he’s worked closely with Lupe Martinez, no relation, for the nearly 30 years he’s been at UMOS, headquartered at 2701 S. Chase Ave.
“One of the things that drives Lupe with that very strong work ethic, which I do have,” he said. “The other aspect is that we both have this drive to serve our community and serve our community well.”
UMOS’ growth over the years
The organization has grown substantially since its humble beginnings in the ‘60s. UMOS now operates in six states, including Texas, Illinois and Wisconsin, and provides services to residents in many others. The organization runs 54 programs with a staff of more than 800 and annual revenue over $100 million.
In Milwaukee, the organization runs Wisconsin Works, or W-2, programs, a Latina Resource Center, food pantries, a tobacco prevention program and provides other services.
In recent years, Jose Martinez was instrumental in securing grants for unemployment insurance programing, a five-year, $25 million grant for Head Start programs in South Texas and $30 million in USDA funding to serve another 42,000 farmworkers and meatpackers, including families in Wisconsin.
“We have been so blessed over the years to grow our programming and have a greater footprint,” he said.
Early experiences shape life
In addition to following the migrant trail with his family, picking crops like apples, cherries and blueberries, participating in a migrant Head Start program, also helped to shape Martinez’ future.
He said Head Start gave him his first chance to visit a theater and swim in a pool. Most importantly though, was the impact it had on his father.
“My dad always wanted the best for us and my family wanted to make sure that we had a better life than he did,” Martinez said. “[My dad] realized that it was going to be through education that his family would move out of poverty.”
Career in service
At age 17, Martinez joined the military, completing a four-year term before leaving to attend school at Pan American University.
There, he was introduced to the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Program, or ROTC. He participated in ROTC for 11 years before beginning his journey into the social service world, eventually landing at UMOS.
At UMOS, he has served in a variety of roles, including W-2 director, senior vice president and now president and CEO.
Along the way, Martinez said his aspirations changed. At first, his goal was to move toward the federal level, which he thought was the best way to create change through policy work.
“I learned that where you could have the greatest impact is working at the local level at a nonprofit,” he said.
Challenges and the future
In terms of some of the biggest challenges ahead for UMOS, Martinez said it’s one that many organizations are facing in a post-COVID world.
“A lot has changed in how we engage clients and even staffing. We have to think creatively to best serve our clientele,” he said.
Other challenges are an increased need for mental health services and the competition for funding, as resources that became available due to the pandemic began to dry up.
“I, and the board, look forward to working closely with Jose to chart our course for the future,” said Ben Obregon, UMOS board chair.
And the future is very much on Martinez’ mind.
“My footprint at UMOS is going to be created by the impact we have on families,” Martinez said. “It’s all about running into individuals in the community who tell you that UMOS has truly made a big difference in their lives.”
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