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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:
July 23, 2014 Camila Gallardo
cgallardo@nclr.org
(305) 215-4259
LOS ANGELES—Last night, NCLR (National Council of La Raza) President and CEO Janet Murguía congratulated the honorees at the 2014 NCLR Annual Conference Awards Gala, which concluded the Conference held July 19–22 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Six awards were presented in honor of individuals and organizations that have demonstrated exemplary accomplishments, both in their fields and in service to the Hispanic community in the United States.
This year’s awardees include Congreso de Latinos Unidos for Affiliate of the Year; Hon. Gloria Molina, Supervisor, First District, Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, for the Graciela Olivarez La Raza Award; Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), for the Maclovio Barraza Award for Leadership; Jose Diaz-Balart, News Anchor, Telemundo, for the Ruben Salazar Award for Communications; Manny Mota, Former Major League Baseball Player, Los Angeles Dodgers, for the Roberto Clemente Award for Sports Excellence; and Eva Longoria, Actress, Activist and Philanthropist, for the Raul Yzaguirre President’s Award.
“I am proud to congratulate such an accomplished group of honorees. Each and every one of them has had an indelible impact on improving the lives of America’s Hispanic community. We are grateful to have such dedicated and effective partners in elevating the voice and influence of Hispanic Americans, and we look forward to continuing our successful collaboration well into the future,” said Murguía.
This year’s awards were co-sponsored by Amtrak, Ford Motor Company Fund, Southwest Airlines and UPS.
Congreso de Latinos Unidos, NCLR’s Affiliate of the Year, has been a member of the NCLR Affiliate Network since 2000. A Philadelphia-based multiservice organization, Congreso strives to strengthen Latino communities through social, economic, education and health services; leadership development; and advocacy. Through its Federally Qualified Health Center and Public Charter School, combined with its other innovative programs, Congreso serves more than 14,000 unduplicated individuals a year. This holistic approach to serving the individual is helping alleviate poverty and promoting economic self-sufficiency to ensure that our most vulnerable populations have the educational credentials and workforce skills to compete in a global economy. Founded in 1977, Congreso has evolved from a grassroots organization into a nationally recognized provider of quality education, employment, health and social services. Today, Congreso is ranked as the 18th largest Hispanic nonprofit in the nation by Hispanic Business and has been named a Top Workplace by the Philadelphia Inquirer for two years in a row.
Much of Congreso’s success is the result of their continued emphasis on accountability and commitment to impact. Since 2003, Congreso has invested in developing and refining an innovative standard service delivery model that has built on the organization’s data-driven culture. Through its Primary Client Management (PCM™) model, Congreso promotes greater client self-sufficiency by approaching each service in a client-centered, data-informed, and culturally appreciative manner. This innovative model is particularly effective at integrating multiple services across the organization to more effectively reduce barriers and avoid duplication of services. PCM™ deliberately moves the focus of client relationships beyond service brokering to influencing behaviors that contribute to high school graduation and completion of a post-secondary degree, greater work readiness, better health and increased family well-being.
The first Latina in history to be elected to the California State Legislature, the Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Gloria Molina, winner of the Graciela Olivarez La Raza Award, is a true success story of the post-civil rights era, symbolizing the social and political progress made by Hispanic Americans in recent decades. Molina, one of ten children raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Pico Rivera, came of age during a time of expanding opportunities for Latinos nationwide. Educated in California’s public schools and universities, she was inspired to dedicate herself to a career in civil service.
Early on she assisted notable politicians in the California State Assembly, as well as in the Carter White House, where she served as Deputy for Presidential Personnel. Eventually she was elected to the California State Assembly in 1982 and the Los Angeles City Council in 1987, both times being the first Latina to do so. During this decade Molina became known as a staunch defender of her constituency, most memorably for her opposition to the construction of a state prison in East Los Angeles. Joining the community group Mothers of East Los Angeles, she rallied coalitions and public leaders to ensure that the prison, which threatened the community fabric, would not be built. To this day she continues to fight for the most vulnerable among her constituents, including by helping move hundreds of homeless people from L.A.’s Skid Row into permanent housing and overseeing the construction of more than 1,100 units of affordable housing.
Angelica Salas, recipient of this year’s Maclovio Barraza Award for Leadership, has long been among the most prominent figures in the ongoing fight for immigrant rights. Since 1999, she has served as Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), which is dedicated to representing and advancing civil rights for immigrants and refugees. Named 2011’s “Woman of the Year” by the California State Assembly and a “Woman of Excellence” by the YWCA of Pasadena, Salas has made an undeniable mark on the Hispanic community. She has led numerous campaigns to expand rights and opportunities for immigrants in California, including by extending in-state tuition for undocumented immigrant students, allowing all Californians to obtain a driver’s license and preventing local police from turning over undocumented immigrants to federal authorities for possible deportation.
Under Salas’s leadership, CHIRLA has transformed from a coalition of service providers into an organization focused on advocacy and empowerment, teaching immigrants to help themselves by standing up for their rights. CHIRLA’s day laborer centers, which provide education and leadership training to the day laborers who congregate at Los Angeles’s corners seeking work, are a model for empowerment being adopted nationwide. With 14 day laborer centers now active, CHIRLA is strengthening workers’ ability to work with dignity for a living wage and respond to unfair treatment. The organization also encourages increased civic participation among its constituents and has registered tens of thousands of new immigrant voters. At the national level, Salas is a visible and respected champion of immigration reform with a focus on family reunification. By building coalitions across labor, faith, academia and community organizations, she has mobilized millions of immigrants to demand comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship.
José Díaz-Balart, winner of this year’s Ruben Salazar Award for Communications, is one of the most respected and experienced voices in journalism today, exemplifying the value a nuanced Latino perspective brings to national news coverage. Viewers know him as the trusted and knowledgeable anchor on MSNBC’s weekday lineup, on Noticiero Telemundo and as the host of “Enfoque con José Díaz-Balart,” Telemundo’s Spanish-language current-affairs program. He is the first and only U.S. journalist to have anchored both English- and Spanish-language newscasts on two national networks for more than one week, and did so on the same day for an entire season. He is also one of few broadcasters who can perform simultaneous translations between languages during live interviews.
This is not the first time he’s made history as a journalist—in 1996, Díaz-Balart became the first Cuban American to host a network news program when he became anchor of CBS’s This Morning. Díaz-Balart’s pioneering career bridged barriers between English-language and Spanish-language network news coverage at a time when NCLR and other Latino organizations were increasingly vocal about the political power of the Latino community. His interviews and angle on a story helped his viewers stay informed on complex issues. At the same time, his high-quality reporting showed that Hispanic Americans in the United States are more than a monolithic single-issue voting bloc. During the 2012 U.S. election season, he conducted one-on-one interviews with both candidates, President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney—a testament to Díaz-Balart’s clout as a journalist, and recognition of the importance of Latinos in a presidential race. His philanthropy and civic service focuses on education and the betterment of the Latino community.
The Roberto Clemente Award for Sports Excellence went to former Los Angeles Dodger Manny Mota. Generations of baseball fans in California and across the country know Mota from his illustrious 13 seasons as an outfielder and 33 seasons as a coach, the longest in Los Angeles Dodgers history. Spanish-speaking fans have also known his voice and expertise since 2010 from Spanish language broadcasts, which expanded to SportsNet LA this season. Mota began playing at the age of 19 and was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1969. He became the number-one pinch hitter there and hit over .300 during the next five seasons. In 1973, he was selected for the National League All-Star team after leading the league in batting average. He played in three World Series contests before returning to his fourth as a coach in 1981. At the time, he held the all-time major league record for career pinch hits. But Mota’s excellence on and off the field as a Los Angeles Dodger is just one part of a distinguished career in which he has given back to those around him.
With his wife, Margarita, Mota founded the Manny Mota International Foundation more than 30 years ago. The foundation’s mission is to provide educational, health and recreational opportunities for underprivileged and disadvantaged youth. Through the Manny Mota Baseball Clinics, youth are taught to build healthy bodies and minds through positive role models and self-discipline through sports. The foundation also provides communities with the tools necessary for improvement and self-reliance. Since 1992, it has held a yearly fundraising event called the Campo de Sueños (Field of Dreams) Awards Banquet. Proceeds from this event fund a major portion of its humanitarian programs. Mota’s selfless work and that of his family, has received numerous honors. Mota and his family were recognized by the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation with the Ray Boone Award as “Baseball’s Family of the Year,” and they were honored at Los Angeles City Hall in 2004 by Los Angeles City Councilman Ed Reyes and Council President Alex Padilla. For his extensive career, Mota, a proud Dominican, was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum during pregame ceremonies at Dodger Stadium in 2003. He also received the Deportista Meritorio, a lifetime achievement award honoring his baseball career and citizenship.
The Raul Yzaguirre President’s Award was given to Eva Longoria, a tremendous supporter of NCLR for a number of years. Her work has been instrumental in helping NCLR fulfill its mission of educating the American public about our community’s contributions and improving the image of the Latino community in Hollywood. Fans of the NCLR ALMA Awards® will recognize Longoria as its effervescent host and Executive Producer, but her commitment to the show runs much deeper. Her singular focus and personal commitment was what convinced ABC to air the ALMA Awards—still the only nationally televised prime-time English language program celebrating Latino contributions to entertainment and media.
Longoria’s work includes a great deal of service to her community. The Eva Longoria Foundation, which she established in 2012, helps Latinas to access resources and opportunities to build better futures for themselves and their families through education and entrepreneurship. She also cofounded Eva’s Heroes, an organization dedicated to enriching the lives of individuals with intellectual special needs by providing an inclusive setting built on four tenets: interact, grow, learn and love. Based in San Antonio, Texas, the organization helps teens and young adults with special needs to integrate into and flourish in society. Always the philanthropist, Eva is the spokesperson for Padres Contra el Cancer, a nonprofit organization that is committed to improving the quality of life for Latino children with cancer and their families. Padres is the only Latino program in the United States that is focused on addressing the needs of the entire family. Longoria has also teamed up with philanthropist Warren Buffett, as they recently partnered with Accion Texas to create a new small-business fund for Latina entrepreneurs in Texas. Since 2013, the fund has made 58 microloans totaling more than $500,000.
Longoria uses her on-screen success as a platform to share the strengths and challenges that Latinos face. She was appointed Commissioner for the National Museum of the American Latino by the president and Congress in a bipartisan vote. The future museum will educate, inspire and encourage respect and understanding of the richness and diversity of the American Latino experience within the U.S. and its territories by highlighting the contributions made by Latino leaders, pioneers and communities to the American way of life.
Longoria has also served as National Co-Chair of President Obama’s reelection campaign and spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2012. An instrumental component of the president’s election, she helped President Obama receive 73% of the Latino vote. Additionally, Longoria is Executive Producer of the documentaries Harvest and Food Chains, which focus on the working conditions and exploitation of migrant farm workers, many of whom are children and do not benefit from protections in the Fair Labor Standards Act. Her third documentary, Our Time, explores the power of the Latino vote.
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Latinos. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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