MILLENNIUM MOMENT

Parents would call Roy Alvarado if they faced problems with their

children.

It was not because he was the president of Latinos Costa Mesa, or even

because he was a high school counselor, but because the late community

leader was someone who knew what the community’s youths were feeling,

firsthand.”All these kids have had are heartbreaks and power struggles,

conflict and bull,” Alvarado once said. “I’m someone who can identify

with that.”When funding for the Costa Mesa Job Center was questioned,

Latinos Costa Mesa made their first step into the public spotlight,

helping persuade an already supportive City Council of the need to keep

the hiring hall open.

The assistance group Families Costa Mesa was founded in his

memory.MILLENNIUM MOMENT celebrates the people who have made a major

contribution to the Newport-Mesa community during this century.