[applause] we have passed the largest investment in college aid in our history which, will commit $100 million per year to hispanic-serving institutions nationwide over the next decade. and with hispanic unemployment nearly doubling during the bush recession, we passed the recovery act, which has created or saved 3.3 million jobs, while cutting taxes for 98% of families and small businesses. [applause] in addition, we passed a small business bill to extends lending and credit to entrepreneurs. president obama just recently signed this bill, and we are extremely excited to see it put into action. small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy. they create jobs and are the engine of our recovery. and today the fastest growing group of small business owners are women and minorities. our country's success rests on

the long-standing ideal that anyone, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or creed can achieve the american dream. hispanic heritage month and tonight's event reminds us all of the strength of our hispanic communities and faith in that very american ideal. sincerely and best wishes, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house. thank you. [applause] >> we're now moving on to the next category. thank you again, nicole, for being here and for that wonderful letter from our speaker. our next category is a category of media. we have two very accomplished honorees tonight and we have great presenter, who's with us tonight as well. >> thank you. please welcome carlos feliz. [applause]

our first honoree tonight is maria mejia. she is the managing editor of he will mens her row, the most important -- of el mensajero newspaper. she has covered news for the latino community in the bay area. the newspaper has received several awards and nominations from national and local organizations. please welcome maria mejia. [applause] >> thank you, maria. our next honoree could not be here. on his behalf we have his

daughter, bianca gutierrez, who as agreed to be here tonight to accept the award on his behalf. [applause] thank you very much for being with us here tonight, bianca. [applause] thank you, carlos. our next presenter, it's quite a treat for me to be able to invite him up to the stage. i've been embarrassed quite often in crowds when he's called me out, but our next category is health and medicine. and as vice chairman of the citizens oversight committee for the california institute for regenerative medicine, my father, senator art torrez, now retired, is a great person to hand off these awards to our two very accomplished honorees.

[applause] >> thank you. [applause] >> senator, would you like to say a few words? >> my son said i wasn't allowed to speak. so the program must go on. >> i have the honor of welcoming our new director of public health in san francisco. [applause] as of the last 20 minutes, this is all past tense, barbara garcia has been the deputy director of health for the city and county of san francisco since 1999.

while in this position, she has implemented innovative programs, including a medically supervised sobering center and intensive case management program for public neebyation. violence response teams and supportive housing. please join us in award to ms. barbara garcia. [applause] >> our next awardee in the field of category of health and medicine is, of course, one who needs no introduction, but we will list the just the same. dr. sandra hernandez, the chief executive officer of the san francisco foundation. she served as the director of public health for the city and county of san francisco. she is an assistant clinical professor at university of california san francisco school of medicine and she maintains an active clinical practice at

san francisco general hospital in the aids clinic. we could not be more and more happy to recognize these two incredible honorees tonight. thank you. [applause] >> i just have to say these are two i my heroes. i have to take the opportunity. our next award is an award that will be presented by jonathan, the executive director of the mexican museum. [applause] >> welcome, jonathan. >> our next honoree may be the most known latino face in the u.s., and his name is benjamin bratt. [applause]

>> if that ain't hyperbolic. >> i can't help it. for more than 20 years, benjamin bratt has successfully spanned a career in both film and television, including two critically acclaimed films for which he received a screen actors guild award. he is best recognized as detective ray curtis on nbc's "law and order." please welcome benjamin bratt. [applause] >> we thought it was very important tonight to recognize the work that both you and your brother did by making such an incredible film that honored the community. i know supervisor campos was incredibly impressed and thankful to have something that brought attention to his district and to all of our communities, for those of us who live in the mission. peter bratt --

[applause] thank you. peter bratt was the director of this film, "la mission." we couldn't be more proud of their accomplishment. [cheers and applause] his first film, "follow me home" premiered at the sundance film festival in official competition in 1996. it's an exploration of the journey to redemption and the ultimate reach toward conquer societal ills is an he can coffee that they further explored in their sophomore effort, "la mission." [applause] "la mission" is the first of five films incorporated, which is a company that mr. brad and his brother, benjamin, and their producing partner founded, and now "la mission" we're proud to announce is one of the top 25 indy films of

2010. [applause] it prepared in the 2009 sundance film festival and earned bratt two prestigious awizards, an award from the national association of latino independent producers and the norman lear award. so for this accomplishment and for which you gave so many of us insight into our common humanity, thank you. [applause] >> our next award is a business award, and we would like to invite supervisor john after loss, who will be -- avalos, who will be presenting the business award tonight. [applause]

>> our next honoree is ruben santana. he is the founder and president of rubecon builders, incorporated. founded in 1993 and based in san francisco, rubecon is a leader in health care, pharmaceutical and biomedical construction. they also perform commercial and industrial work in both the public and private sectors. mr. santana and his company are committed to giving back to the community in which they serve. please join us in welcoming mr. ruben santana. [applause] >> our next awardees for business is a son and mother duo, who are extraordinarily well recognized for their achievements with mama art

cafe. mr. paulo cabezas opened mama art cafe in 2004. he's cure rated over 70 art exhibitions. it's been dedicated to the international and local artists. in addition to the promotion of high quality organic and fair trade coffee under the brand "mama," which i'm sure his mother enjoyed, they've received numerous awards and recognitions, including the 2009 small bills of the year in california's eighth senate district award and the 2010 san francisco convention and visitors bureau only in san francisco award. please join me in applauding paulo cabezas as he approaches the stage. [applause] >> his mother, also known as cruzita, and the friendliest person of the excelsior

district -- [applause] -- is a night tiff of el salvador. in 2004 she accepted the invitation to join mama art cafe as a representative. gradually she decided to pursue her new career and to contribute to the excelsior community. the position at mama art cafe provided the opportunity to promote products and events on the radio and to network with bay area professionals. she continued her education through private training, business consultants and classes at various organizations in san francisco. she is on the board of directors for new eat-in projects that facilitates projects that benefit youth by fofters creative arts and education. please give applause to the mother and son. [applause]

>> our next category is the category of education. our presentser is our esteemed city librarian, luis herrera. please join me in welcoming him to the stage. [applause] our first honoree is someone who recently stepped down from the mission campus of city college, dr. carlota del portillo. [applause] you know, she's had a lot of firsts. [applause] she was the first latina president of the hoover mi firs president of the hoover middle school p.t.a. she was one of the first latinas to gain a doctorate in education from u.s.f. she was the first latina named to the civil service commission and the first latina named to the san francisco human rights commission by mayor dianne feinstein. in 1974 she was a member of the civil service commission and she cast the deciding vote to

integrate women into the san francisco fire department. [applause] but she wasn't done there. she was the first latina to win a citywide election in san francisco without first being appointed to the position when she won her seat on the san francisco board of education in 1990. after her re-election in 1994, she served as vice president and then president of the board. she is a latina with the longest administrative tenure at city college of san francisco, having served as dean of the mission campus for 17 years. so please join me in recognizing dr. del portillo. [applause] >> our next honoree is nicky trasvina. [applause] the end of all education should

be service to others. this quote inspires nicky trasvina, community activist, student advisor, supervisoror to counseling for many latinos. nicky was inspired by the fine example that her parents and brother demonstrated as high-level public servants in education and government. her public service utilized her organizing and networking skills. nicky has been active in latino advocacy organizations, serving on multiple boards in the mission district and throughout the city. [applause] >> before we begin our final presentation for the evening, we thank you for being patient with us. thank you for trying to be cool with us. this is our fourth annual latino heritage month celebration and awards

ceremony. i wanted to take a moment to recognize someone without whom we would not be here. four years ago this event was started by mr. alfredo pedrosa. [applause] and you just wanted to thank him publicly for making such an event happen for us, for being such a great colleague, and for being such a great mentor to me during my time here at city hall. thank you, alfredo. [applause] >> our final community -- sorry, our final award is a community service award. please join us in welcoming supervisor campos, who will be presenting and introducing the awardees. [applause]

our next awardee is somebody i get to work with a lot. her name is ana perez, and she is the director of carecen. ana is a human and immigrant rights activist. as the executive director of the central american resource center in san francisco, she has been at the forefront of helping to organize effective multi-collisions to fight for the rights of immigrants. she's also the president of the salvadorean network, which brings together the largest organization in the u.s. ms. perez works to increase the understanding of state-sponsored violence in structural and equality as the root causes of migration and other forms of oppression. she is also a strong advocate on juvenile justice, health equity and immigration issues. please join us in welcoming ana perez. [applause]

our next awardee is dr. estela garcia. she is the director of the substitute toe familiar dallara za. -- institute toe familiar dallara za. a mental health and social service agency serving mission residents. she is a licensed clinical psychologist and has taken a leadership role as an advocate for health equity in the latino community and developing health and social services in san francisco. she has 25 years of experience in the area of children, youth and families, dr. garcia is a strong advocate for collaborative approaches to

service provisions and has developed a mission center of excellence in the mission and the chicano latino family resource system. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor. before we conclude toc1 before we conclude tonight's official ceremony, i wanted to say thank you to the police chief gas con for being with us here tonight, our director of the san francisco arts commission as well. thank you for being with us here tonight. [applause] again, to supervisor david campos. [speaking spanish] our treasurer, jose cisneros, senator torrez. thank you for being with us here tonight. i love you, dad.

[applause] i also want to thank assemblywoman, senator leno, congressional representative jackie spear and, of course, the office of the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, and thank you to all for being here tonight. all of them contributed and have certificates of honor which they'll find in their bags which were generously donated by the p.u.c. tonight. and i want to say thank you to all of you for being here. and once again, to conclude tonight's ceremony, we have for awful you again, our -- again, i wanted to thank our sponsors, of course, because without comcast, yerba buena engineering and construction, without pse&g and at&t, we could not be here tonight. and most importantly, because we believe in education and its importance to our community, we

budgeted so well this year that we can make a little announcement. we have four $500 scholarships that we'll be able to give to four promising latinos who will be graduating from the san francisco unified school district and who will be going on to their next level of education. for all of our sponsors that made that happen. thank you very much. [applause] thank you for a wonderful program. and now, thank you to mariachi band for closing out our incredible program tonight. thank you all for being here. thank you very much. please join us after this musical presentation at the north side court. [speaking spanish] [applause]

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