Editing Cesar Chavez (section)

===Founding the National Farm Workers Association: 1962–1965===
[[File:Dolores Huerta (25854563002).jpg|thumb|right|Dolores Huerta (pictured in 2016) was a key ally of Chavez's in his formation of the NFWA.]]

In April 1962, Chavez and his family moved to [[Delano, California]], an agricultural community in the southern San Joaquin Valley, where they rented a house on Kensington Street.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=31|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=77, 79}} He was intent on forming a labor union for farm workers but, to conceal this aim, told people that he was simply conducting a census of farm workers to determine their needs.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=77}} He began devising the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), referring to it as a "movement" rather than a [[trade union]].{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1pp=31–32|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=81–82}} He was aided in this project both by his wife and by [[Dolores Huerta]];{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=34|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=80–81}} according to Pawel, Huerta became his "indispensable, lifelong ally".{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=91}} Other key supporters of his project were the Reverend Jim Drake and other members of the [[California Migrant Ministry]]; although as a Roman Catholic Chavez was initially suspicious of these [[Protestantism|Protestant]] preachers, he came to view them as key allies.{{sfn|Bruns|2005|p=35}}

Chavez spent his days traveling around the [[San Joaquin Valley]], meeting with workers and encouraging them to join his association.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1pp=33–34|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=81}} At the time, he lived off a combination of unemployment benefit, his wife's wage as a farmworker, and donations from friends and sympathizers.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=82–83}} On September 30, 1962, he formalized the Association at a convention in Fresno.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=34|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=86–87}} There, delegates elected Chavez as the group's general-director.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=88}} They also agreed that, once the association had a life insurance policy up and running, members would start paying monthly dues of $3.50.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=35|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=88}} The group adopted the motto "viva la causa" ("long live the cause") and a flag featuring a black eagle on a red and white background.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=34|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=88–89}} At the organization's constitutional convention held in Fresno in January 1963, Chavez was elected president, with Huerta, [[Julio Hernandez]], and [[Gilbert Padilla]] its vice presidents.{{sfn|Bruns|2005|p=36}}

[[File:UFW Flag.svg|thumb|left|The flag adopted by the NFWA at its launch in 1962]]

Chavez wanted to control the NFWA's direction and to that end ensured that the role of the group's officers was largely ceremonial, with control of the group being primarily in the hands of the staff, headed by himself.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=93}} At the NFWA's second convention, held in Delano in 1963, Chavez was retained as its general director while the role of the presidency was scrapped.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=93}} That year, he began collecting membership dues, before establishing an insurance policy for FWA members.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=94}} Later in the year he launched a [[credit union]] for NFWA members, having gained a state charter after the federal government refused him one.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=38|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2pp=95–96}} The NFWA attracted volunteers from other parts of the country. One of these, Bill Esher, became editor of the group's newspaper, ''[[El Malcriado]]'', which soon after launching increased its print run from 1,000 to 3,000 to meet demand.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|pp=96–98}}

The NFWA was initially based out of Chavez's house although in September 1964 it moved its headquarters to an abandoned [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] church in Albany Street, West Delano.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=99}} During its second full year in operation the association more than doubled both its income and its expenditures.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=101}} As it became more secure, it began to plan for its first strike.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=101}} In April 1965, rose grafters approached the organization and requested help in organizing their strike for better working conditions. The strike targeted two companies, Mount Arbor and Conklin. Aided by the NFWA, the workers struck on May 3, and after four days the growers agreed to raise wages, after which the strikers returned to work.{{sfnm|1a1=Bruns|1y=2005|1p=39|2a1=Pawel|2y=2014|2p=101}} Following this success, Chavez's reputation began to filter through leftist activist circles across California.{{sfn|Pawel|2014|p=102}}