Full Biography for Refugio "Ray" Moreno

Refugio "Ray" Moreno came to San Jose in 1960 with his family and has lived ever since then in the Guadalupe Washington area. His mother worked in the canneries and restaurants throughout San Jose to support the family. Ray has known what it is to overcome adversity. He picked strawberries and apricots, and shined shoes and sold newspapers downtown to help the family make ends meet.

Ray married and raised two daughters in the Guadalupe-Washington neighborhood. He watched the neighborhood deteriorate, but for many years, assumed someone else would come in and take care of the problem. Eventually he realized that nothing was going to magically reaolve the issues, and became a founding member of the Guadalupe Washington Neighborhood Association.

As President of GWNA for two terms, Ray and other group members worked with city staff, Mayor Hammer and councilmembers to address community issues. He fought forcefully and diligently for the youth center and Biblioteca, scheduled to be opened in 1998. He assisted Carlos Acosta in helping to develop La Esperanza, a youth soccer league, that involved over 150 children the first year, and over 300 the second year.

As a member of the school site selection team for San Jose Unified School District, Ray fought to have another elementary school built in the Washington community, since 500 children have to be bused out of the area for lack of room in the neighborhood schools. The new Tamien Elementary School is scheduled for construction within 2-3 years. Currently he is working with San Jose Unified School District, the Department of Probation, and the City of San Jose to establish an alternative school for some of the at-risk youth who have difficulty attending the mainstream schools.

As vice-chair of the Revitalization program in the community, he is a strong advocate for affordable housing that will benefit those who currently live in overcrowded conditions in his neighborhood. Ray is also fighting for the needs of older youth to have alternative programs and activities, and give them more choices in their lives.

For the past fourteen years, Ray has worked for Pacific Radomes in Santa Clara, a parabolic antenna and radome manufacturer.