Launch of Ed Vargas Legacy Fund Celebrates Labor Legacy

The Ed Vargas Legacy Fund launched on Mar. 7 with over $100,000 in donations. Friends, family and colleagues gathered at Cornell ILR’s New York City headquarters to commemorate Vargas and continue his legacy.

Heriberto “Ed” Vargas was a veteran labor leader who died in 2021. For 40 years, Vargas championed economic, political and social justice for working families in his native New York City and beyond.

The Worker Institute’s Ed Vargas Labor Community Legacy Fund aims to continue Vargas’ work, bringing community and labor together to advance economic and social justice for workers.

The scholarship will support leaders from El Puente, a youth arts and education nonprofit in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, co-founded by Vargas. Scholarship winners will attend the New York State AFL-CIO Cornell Union Leadership Institute (ULI) annually.

ULI prepares labor and worker-justice leaders to become bold, innovative and adaptable advocates for workers' rights. The multi-union, multi-sector statewide leadership program helps labor and worker justice leaders strengthen their organizations and advance inclusion and solidarity.

“This fund will help new, young leaders find their vision and power,” said Kathleen Mulligan, interim executive director of the Worker Institute. “It’s about strengthening the labor movement, increasing their capacity to work and giving leaders a vision of who they serve.”

The legacy fund will also provide additional training opportunities for community leaders at El Puente and other Latino-serving, community-based organizations in New York City.

Marco A. Carrión, executive director of El Puente, spoke at the event, recounting Vargas’ immense contributions to the program, the community and the labor movement. Edgar Romney, secretary-treasurer of Worker’s United, reflected fondly on his work and friendship with Vargas, while Liz Weiner spoke on behalf of the Vargas family and celebrated the fund as a lasting legacy.

Vargas was a “champion of underdogs,” and the legacy fund will undoubtedly continue his lifelong mission.