State names new migrant affairs director
by Federico Martinez | The Muskegon Chronicle
Monday January 12, 2009, 1:31 AM

WEST MICHIGAN — Longtime farm worker advocate and attorney Marcelina Trevino-Savala has been named the state of Michigan's new director of migrant affairs.

Trevino-Savala, a native of Detroit, will begin her new job Monday.

"I'm happy to have the opportunity to work with the Latino and farm worker communities," Trevino-Savala said. "My mother worked as a migrant worker."

Trevino-Savala, 31, succeeds Martha Gonzalez-Cortes, who served as the state's top migrant farm worker advocate for six years before leaving a year ago.

The migrant affairs office is an extension of Michigan's Department of Human Services.

The director of migrant affairs is responsible for monitoring how tax dollars are used to provide public housing, and services such as health and educational programs for farm workers. The director is also charged with helping to craft state policies that deal with migrants.

About 100,000 migrants pass through Michigan yearly to pick crops, work in canning factories and fill other agricultural-related jobs, according to census studies conducted by the state.

During her tenure, Gonzalez-Cortes was a strong champion for increased educational opportunities for children. She also excelled at getting groups with differing political agendas to work for the common good of migrants, her supporters say.

Trevino-Savala said she hopes to carry on those efforts. For the past two years, Trevino-Savala has been in private practice with a concentration in criminal and family law.

She has her law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School, a master's of social work from the University of Michigan and a bachelor's in social work from Michigan State University.

Prior to earning her law degree, Trevino-Savala served as senior staff assistant with the MSU College Assistance Migrant Program. She also was associate director, project coordinator for the MSU High School Equivalency Program, and served as an area coordinator for Chicano/Latino Student Affairs for MSU's Racial Ethnic Student Affairs Program.

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