Eloy Barrera

Austin community volunteer dies
Eloy Barrera helped create solutions to drop out rates, supported Hispanic businesses.

By Monica Polanco

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Eloy Barrera's interest in his community didn't end with his neighborhood, friends and coworkers said.

A businessman who worked his way up from the bottom, Barrera volunteered as chairman of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and worked on a task force that studied the Austin school district's drop-out rates. He also served on Hispanic chamber boards in Dallas and Fort Worth and participated in three of Austin Community College's advisory boards.

Barrera, who suffered from cardiovascular and renal disease, died Sunday, his sister, Rosie Barrera said. He was 52.

Barrera was a quiet person who volunteered despite his failing health, friends said. He took on tough projects but never basked in accolades once the work was completed, said John Moore, executive director of the Austin school district's Educational Support Services.

"Eloy was such a strong and positive voice for children and for accountability," said Pat Forgione, Austin schools superintendant. "He understood children of poverty. He really had a deep sense of commitment to the community."

As chairman of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Barrera oversaw an organization of more than 700 members. He was a creative leader who once proposed taking a leave of absence so that he could take on a greater workload while the organization searched for an executive director, said Joe Muñoz, an Austin police officer and board member.

Barrera grew up in Laredo and lived in Fort Worth before moving to Austin almost 10 years ago. Faced with the choice of attending college or supporting his family, Barrera took a job at a Denny's restaurant, Rosie Barrera said. He later worked to make sure that other youths would finish high school and go to college.

He worked as a business consultant in human resources for nine McDonald's restaurants in Central Texas before retiring in 2000. He was a longtime supporter of Hispanic and small businesses, Rosie Barrera said.

He was one of three people chosen to lead a 55-member task force charged with finding solutions to the Austin school district's drop-out problem in 1999. At the time, more than 1,200 of the district's students were dropping out each year, Forgione said. The task force was created as part of a settlement agreement with the Travis County Attorney's office after the district was accused of tampering with student information on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills.

Barrera made sure task force members -- many of them from diverse backgrounds -- could express their ideas, and brought a business-like approach to the process, said Moore of the school district's Educational Support Services. The task force presented its recommendations in 2000. Today, less than 500 students drop out of the district each year, Forgione said.

"He was very instrumental in helping us to adopt very systematic solutions," Moore said. "He helped us to hone in and identify the causes, those things that promote drop out."

Barrera is survived by his mother, Belia Barrera, his son, Eloy P. Guy Barrera, and his daughters, Patti Euceda and Belia Guzman.

Visitation for Barrera will be at the Hillside Funeral Home, in Laredo from 4 to 9 p.m. today The rosary will be at 7 p.m. and the funeral mass will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at San Martin de Porres Church in Laredo.