Tejada Encouraged by Villaraigosa Win

Arlington County Board Member J. Walter Tejada was included in post-election news on newly elected Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The Washington Dateline noted that Tejada “is the lone member of an exclusive club -- the only Hispanic elected official in a state where more than 5 percent of the population is Latino.” Walter declared that “I did not set out to enter politics. The road for me was activism … in leadership development, citizenship [drives], voter registration.”

Tejada Helps Connect Employers/Employees

Arlington County Board Member J. Walter Tejada's leadership was highlighted in an article in the Potomac News that compared how different counties in Northern Virginia were responding to the day-laborer issue. The article declares that "As officials from Herndon and Prince William County consider day-laborer sites, they have looked to Arlington County for inspiration. In February 2000, Arlington County opened the Shirlington Employment and Educational Center (SEEC) near Four Mile Run, a place where day laborers have been waiting for work near a lumberyard for at least 10 years. SEEC offered computer and English classes for day laborers, but the workers still stood on the street to get jobs. In October 2003, the center built an open-air pavilion nearby, that now serves as a hiring hall for 60 to 150 day laborers. From 6 a.m. to noon, a daily lottery at the pavilion matches laborers with employers."

The Potomac News quotes Walter saying that "if they are looking for work and there are employers that want to hire them, it is in the best interest of a locality that it happen in a coordinated manner." Walter was instrumental in SEECs founding through an Arlington County Community Development Block Grant. "Arlington County contributes $130,000 annually for the center, and federal funds account for $52,000 of the yearly budget."