2022 Latino Spirit Awards honors trailblazers
After the COVID-19 pandemic halted in-person ceremonies of the Latino Spirit Awards for two years, a diverse group of Latino leaders from throughout California and across various professions were recognized Monday at the state Capitol.
The Latino Spirit Awards were established in 2002 by the California Latino Legislative Caucus to highlight positive role models within the diverse Latino community.
“As Latino Caucus chair, I am so honored to recognize these ordinary men and women who do extraordinary things for the Latino Community,” said state Sen. María Elena Durazo.
Every year, the caucus honors Latinos and Latinas in a variety of categories that range from athletics-sports to public service and human rights.
This year, nine honorees and one special guest were recognized for the 20th annual Latino Spirit Awards on each floor of the legislature during presentations by Durazo in the state Senate and vice-chair Robert Rivas in the Assembly.
“They represent innovation and a spirit of struggle in labor, business, philanthropy and the arts,” Durazo said. “We are proud and grateful.”
Many of the honorees are pioneers in their respective fields and have overcome tremendous obstacles, rising to become role models and community leaders.
“Today, we honor just a few of the California Latinos who make a positive difference in the lives of Californians and all Americans,” said Rivas. “I am proud of the contributions of this year’s Latino Spirit Awards honorees who are not only champions for equity and representation but are paving the way for future generations.”
The 2022 Latino Spirit Award Honorees
Jenna C. Contreras/Achievement in Journalism & Media
Jenna C. Contreras is an award-winning filmmaker who believes storytelling is more than just capturing an audience and striving to create engaging, meaningful content. Using the platform of ESPN and its multiple outlets, she has illuminated important issues such as social justice, equality and suicide prevention.
As a director and producer, Contreras is a one-time Emmy award-winner, five-time Emmy nominee, and a two-time New York Festivals Silver Medal recipient.
Alfred Díaz-Infante/In Memoriam
As the son of immigrant farmworkers, Alfred Díaz-Infante was President and CEO of the Community Housing Improvement Systems and Planning Association (CHISPA), Monterey County’s largest non-profit housing organization.
Under Díaz-Infante’s 23 years of leadership, CHISPA built and renovated 2,447 single-family homes and apartments for low- and moderate-income people in Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz counties. He also guided efforts to bolster access to education to residents by establishing three college scholarships that have awarded over $79,000 to seventy-two students.
Díaz-Infante became one of the region’s most recognized leaders, and advocates for farmworkers and low-income families, serving on numerous boards across the region. He is survived by Elvira, his wife of 31 years; their three children, Karina, Alexis, and Marcos; and grandson, Leo.
Sonia Manzano/Achievement in Arts & Entertainment
Sonia Manzano is a first-generation mainland Puerto Rican, raised in the South Bronx. In the early 1970s a scholarship took her to Carnegie Mellon University where she participated in the creation of the Broadway show hit ‘Godspell.’
Manzano was offered the opportunity to create the role of María on Sesame Street, making an impact on the lives of millions of parents and children.
In 2016 she received a lifetime achievement award for her work on ‘Sesame Street’ at the 43rd annual Daytime Emmys. Manzano has also received 15 Emmys for staff writing ‘Sesame Street,’ the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Award, and the Hispanic Heritage Award for Education.
Manzano, an award-winning children’s book author, has published ‘No Dogs Allowed,’ ‘A Box Full of Kittens’ and ‘Miracle on 133rd Street’ with Simon and Schuster and ‘The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano’ and ‘Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx’ with Scholastic.
‘A World Together,’ Manzano’s first book for National Geographic was released September 2020. Her current novel, ‘Coming Up Cuban,’ will publish in summer 2022. She created an animated series called ‘Alma’s Way,’ developed by Fred Rogers Productions. It premiered on PBS in October 2021.
Ron Herrera/Achievement in Public Service
Ron Herrera has been a union member for over 41 years and currently serves as president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the second-largest labor council in the United States composed of over 300 affiliates, representing over 800,000 workers in Los Ángeles County from every industry and trade.
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He started his union career in 1975 as a package car driver with the United Parcel Service, where he represented his fellow members as a shop steward. In 2000, Herrera was hired as a Teamsters Local 396 business representative, and in 2001 he became the president of Local 396. In 2003, he was elected to the principal officer position as secretary treasurer of Local 396, a position he currently holds today.
Dr. Alfonso R. Padrón/Achievement in Community Empowerment
Raised in Parlier, Dr. Alfonso Padrón grew up with a keen awareness of Latinos being overlooked in the education system, something he witnessed it in his own community.
Padrón has more than 20 years of experience working in the counseling field and 10 years as a parent and advocate for special need students. He has dedicated his life to serving others as a substance abuse counselor, restorative justice director, and now a Special Education Advocate.
He began Parent Advocacy for Special Education (PASE) in 2013 with the intention of helping Latino parents of children with disabilities navigate the school system. He has been at the forefront of representing special need students and their parents in California as they struggled through the maze of educational hearings and legal proceedings.
In the last ten years, Padrón has helped hundreds of families in the Central Valley and across the state, by empowering them, informing them of their rights through the special education system, and supporting these parents in exercising those rights.
He has managed to acquire thousands of services for these students including tutoring, physical therapy, nonpublic schools, specialized programs, mental health support, and so much more.
George Pla/Achievement in Business & Philanthropy
George L. Pla is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and author whose work spans business and civic activities focused on enhancing and empowering communities throughout California. He is the founder and CEO of Cordoba Corporation, a full-service engineering firm that specializes in the delivery of infrastructure projects in the transportation, education, water, and energy sectors.
His business background also encompasses the fields of finance and banking including the founding, development, and sale of two banks. Pla’s civic engagements encompass leadership in academic, athletic and cultural institutions, and business organizations that have far-reaching impacts in the community.
He is a governor’s appointee currently serving as the president of the Los Ángeles Memorial Coliseum Commission. His support for academic institutions includes serving as a member of the Program Advisory Committee for Stanford University’s Construction Institute and as a Presidential Associate at the University of Southern California.
Pla is the co-author of the formative book on Latino politics, ‘Power Shift – How Latinos in California Transformed Politics in America,’ which chronicles the development of Latino political empowerment through the inspiring journeys of 10 trailblazing Latino leaders.
María S. Salinas/Achievement in Business
María S. Salinas is the president & CEO of the Los Ángeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the largest business association in Los Ángeles County representing member companies and serving the interests of more than 235,000 businesses across the region.
Salinas took the helm of the organization in August of 2018 and became the first woman and Latina to lead the chamber in its 132-year history. She is also an appointee to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Commission on the Future of Work and was named to his Business and Jobs Recovery Task Force.
She serves on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Committee of 100, represents the Los Ángeles business community in statewide policy initiatives with the Coalition of Regional Economic Association Leaders (R.E.A.L.), is a member of the Board of Directors of Mobility 21, a regional transportation effort, and serves as an appointee of L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti to the MEXLA Commission, a foreign policy initiative between México and Los Ángeles.
Salinas also serves on the board of directors of The Music Center, Pacific Council, UnidosUS and Southern California Leadership Network among others.
Irene Tovar/Achievement in Public Service
Irene Tovar is a Chicana activist who has served the Latino community since the 1960s. She was part of the Chicano Movement and had the opportunity to work with César Chávez and Dolores Huerta.
Tovar was also active in the Chicano Moratorium Committee to protest the injustices that Chicanos were facing during the Vietnam War. She held a position in the administration of former Gov. Jerry Brown serving as a special assistant to expedite government services and served eight years as the first Mexican American appointed to the state Personnel Board.
As president of the board from 1975 to 1981, she was instrumental in implementing policies and procedures, including differential pay and Affirmative Action, which removed artificial barriers in the State Civil Service system.
Tovar subsequently served a four-year term on the Public Employment Relations Board, overseeing union negotiations at the state’s colleges, universities and public-school systems. While at the Governor’s office, Tovar organized a statewide Chicanas Issues Conference with over 2,000 attendees.
Since 1991, Tovar has served as the CEO of the Latin American Civic Association. She will receive an honorary doctoral degree in the Humanities from CSU, Northridge in May.
Dr. Guillermo Valenzuela/Achievement in Health & Science
For more than 40 years, Dr. Guillermo Valenzuela has worked to improve the care, education, and opportunities for the Latino community in the Inland Empire.
A native of Chile, where he was raised in challenging economic circumstances, Valenzuela became an OB-GYN physician and built a Women’s Health Department that serves San Bernardino county’s poorest residents.
A lifelong learner, Valenzuela completed two fellowships and earned an MBA later in life, while practicing medicine full-time. Valenzuela led the turnaround of a company, which ultimately managed care for 140,000 patients before he sold it to a Fortune 100 company.
Valenzuela currently owns seven clinics where 20,000 families receive care for physical and behavioral needs. He founded the Valenzuela Family Foundation and the Hispanic Health Institute to support programs and research that improve the health of diverse populations.
Valenzuela regularly sponsors programs that award computers to middle school students in an essay contest. Because his mother is an artist, he also ‘practices’ poetry as well as medicine.
Cheech Marín/Special guest, 2018 Latino Spirit Award Honoree
An actor, director, writer, musician, art collector, and humanitarian, Cheech Marín is a paradox in the world of entertainment.
He is best known as half of the satirical duo Cheech and Chong, who together released various albums, of which six went gold, four were nominated for Grammys, and ‘Los Cochinos’ won the 1973 Grammy for Best Comedy Recording. He starred in eight feature films.
Aside from his film career, he is also recognized as a preeminent Chicano art advocate. In the mid-1980s, he began developing the finest private collection of Chicano art. Much of it formed the core of his inaugural exhibition ‘Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge,’ which broke attendance records during its groundbreaking 15‐city tour during 2001‐07 to major art museums across the United States.
Furthering his goal to introduce Chicano art to a wider audience, Marín has entered a partnership with the City of Riverside and the Riverside Art Museum to create The Marín Center for Chicano Art, Culture, and Industry.
Slated to open next month, ‘The Cheech’ will become the permanent home for his more than 700 works of Chicano art, including paintings, sculptures, and photography. Collectively, it is the most renowned Chicano art collection in the United States.
