BROCKPORT– Librada Paz, who moved to the Brockport area as a migrant worker and later became a farmworker advocate, will receive the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award this fall.
The award was announced in July, according to information at http://rfkcenter.org.
Paz is a member of Rural & Migrant Ministry’s council and formerly served as an interim director of the organization’s western New York office. The organization advocates for farmworker rights and is partnering with the RFK Center to advocate for the passage of the state’s proposed Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act.
Paz moved to the United States from her native Mexico nearly two decades ago and spent several years as a migrant worker, according to a 2008 El Mensajero Católico article. She traveled to different states and picked fruit at many farms until she settled in the Brockport area and was able to finish high school and go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Ethel Kennedy will present the award to Paz and 43 other awardees from 26 countries during a November ceremony in Washington, D.C.
