FRANCISCO MANUAL HERNANDEZ

Feb. 9, 1945 – Oct. 21, 2021

Imperial Valley native, Francisco (Frank) Manual Hernandez, passed away at his home on October 21, 2021. He was born on February 9, 1945, in Brawley. He attended Brawley schools and graduated from B.U.H.S., class of 1962. He is remembered for his intellect and quick wit.

After graduating from high school, Francisco joined the Peace Corps and was sent to work in Puerto Rico for two years and a brief period in Costa Rica. The locations made it possible for him to hone his Spanish. Upo n his return, he applied to U.C. Berkeley, was accepted, and graduated with a degree in Psychology. He remained in the Bay Area and began his consultant work in the Mexican-American communities. Francisco became aware that the monolingual Spanishspeaking communities lacked essential services; especially in the area of health care. Seeing the inequities, he worked with community leaders to obtain funding and established 'La Raza Clinica de Salud'; a community-run health clinic. Francisco evolved politically and believed that the strength of the Latino community comes from its LIFE EXPERIENCE, which has worth, and capable in its collective capacity to improve its quality of life.

Although Francisco found the work in the bay area gratifying, his ultimate goal was to return to his roots; to work in Imperial Valley (El Valle). He worked with local community groups; continuing his political activism and was hired, at one point, to organize a local GOTV campaign, which, proved very successful.

Francisco was a very talented graphic artist who used his silk screen skill to help local election campaigns develop their signage. He also used silk screen graphics to create posters announcing important upcoming community