Fernando Quiroz: Achieving the American dream

Editor's note - This is the fourth in a 10-part series of profiles of area residents picked as the 10 Most Influential Hispanics in Yuma County, an annual recognition by Bajo El Sol, The Sun's Spanish-language sister newspaper.

Fernando Quiroz has met his goals. The American dream is a reality for him, but helping others reach it is one of the greatest satisfactions in his life, he says.

As the 37-year-old director of American Beginnings, he helps immigrants in their applications for legal residency, but he also works as an advocate for education and housing for Hispanics.

"I don't know how to say 'no.' Instead, I ask, 'how can I help you? What can I do?' That is what I love to do. My mother taught me to have a good heart, to help everyone and that is what I have tried to do," he asserts.

Quiroz returned to Yuma after obtaining two degrees at the University of Arizona and got to work. "Coming from a farmworker family, the youngest of 12 siblings, I have tried to help our community improve its education and housing, and being director here allows me to do more for the community."

Quiroz says he wants to give back some of the many things he has received. "I thank God for the opportunity not only to live the American dream but to help others achieve it as a counselor professor at the college.

"When I look at our clients I see my family. We are good people who came to this country to work or to be a part of this country," Quiroz said.

However, he says there are barriers that stop Hispanics. "It's a shame that just because my last name is Quiroz or Sanchez, I am still considered a foreigner; I was born here and I am proud of it. I always say about myself, Mexican blood but American heart, because this is my country. The country that has given me opportunities."

He recalls, "my teachers as well as other people saw something in me and opened doors for me and I always ask myself, 'How can I open more doors for my community and tell them it can be done?'

"I feel pride when I see someone take the same steps I took. We must not only open doors but tear (barriers) down, too," he added.

"I try to say the truth and what is happening and how the community will be affected. We have a good community. There are many needs and much work before us. In immigration, education and housing.

"Let's not forget," he concluded, "that when someone stops working in the fields, someone new takes their place, with the same desire to improve their life, the same needs," he said.

"Somebody must tell them that there are more opportunities for our people out there than working in the fields. This country has been enriched by the labor of our people."