♪ ♪ [singing in spanish] ♪

gracias, thank you very much. [applause]

>> it is a sign of good luck. good evening. thank you for being here on this special occasion to celebrate with us. >> latino heritage in san francisco. buenos noches, san francisco. [applause] >> it is and honor to celebrate the achievements and have so many great honorees here tonight. they enhance our economic, educational, and artistic environment in san francisco. we want to thank everyone for their participation, especially in the latino month heritage committee and the consul generals, and all of our presenters who helped represent our community so well. >> i work in the mayor's office of housing and community

development. and the community builder for the district 9 and 11. i am presenting tonight. >> i am from the mayor's office of neighborhood services. thank you for being here tonight. it is good to see you. supervisor cohen, thank you for joining us tonight. where would like to present our mayor, mayor edwin m. lee. [applause] >> good afternoon. it is my pleasure to celebrate with you latino heritage month in san francisco. welcome! we live in a very unique place. i know the history of our own

city has been wonderfully filled with people from the south to move to appear in the 1970's and 1980's. i want to thank all of the consul generals here representing your country and continuing to work with san francisco to make sure that we have good policies to welcome all of our immigrant visitors, families, and the reunification of families. thank you for your great service to our city. i have been privileged to be the mayor of this wonderful, diversite -- diverse city. latino heritage month celebrates all of the contributions of latinos from all different walks of life. from the police department, to the libraries, to the 311 center, to public servants of

the board of supervisors, to even retired state senators. it has been a great tradition. this city is recognizing that very much. we often talk about the increase in population. it is very exciting to see the latino population and the asian population are the most aggressively increasing populations in the state. we must do more. we must have more representation. it is very welcome to. this has been a natural history for us. it is exciting to see some much of our culture and arts in our businesses and levels of government represented by latinos. thank you, jose cisneros for being here. thank you, a supervisor avalos. we have a lot more work ahead of

us and a lot more work to do together. it is not just the increase in population. we have challenges in education, challenges for businesses. we have to do more. one of the best things that has happened in a long time is something that the community and work very closely together on is that the california dream act passed. it was signed by our governor. [applause] that was such a tremendous and courageous act. it is necessarily reflective of what is happening in our own education. i have had that great pleasure of working with the board president and carlos garcia. he is at another conference, the association of latino administrators and superintendents, having a national conference on the very

important topic of how we improve education for latino communities across the country. i want to thank him for working so closely with us. luis herera has done so much for the libraries. thank you for such wonderful leadership. we get so excited when we open up libraries and increase the performance of our kids in school. all the kids are increasing participation. i get very excited about the city even more when all of our services are accessible to all of our communities in all different languages. you should not be surprised the both of my daughters who graduated from public-school also speaks spanish fluently. [applause] that is our future.

anita and i told our kids that they were lucky to live in a global city. the global. learn chinese and spanish. -- be global. learn chinese and spanish. i continue to be proud to work in the city. i am excited about all the programs. the challenges are to improve all of our communities and make them stronger. every time i have a chance to work with new leaders and department heads like nancy worling o -- working on 311, and get very excited. david campos is walking in now. we have worked together on challenging legislation. we still know we will be united around building our communities. i am very excited to do that on

behalf of our great city. it is a city of diversity and strength. i want to present something i have wanted to do for some weeks as we talk about how to really give celebration. i know there are a couple of people that i wanted to help recognize on their behalf. we had a moment earlier this year with the passing of maurice vela. i wanted to recognize him by providing the proclamation to his family who is here today. >> carlos, eddie, rose. [applause]

>> thank you. >> carlos, eddie, rose, i want to welcome you to the stage and express our great appreciation for the family of maurice vela. we are working to preserve and improve the mural at bernal heights in his name. we're doing that with the love of the city for his leadership. please accept the proclamation declaring latino heritage month celebration day on behalf of your father and husband. thank you very much. [applause]

we also want to honor another great leader in our community. i have had a chance to meet him and see the product of his work. the family of eric, please step forward. [applause] please welcome loreno and his mother carla to the stage. on behalf of the city of san francisco, we sincerely want to signify our deep appreciation

for eric, his love for the community of san francisco. on behalf of the city and county of san francisco, i would like to present the latino heritage celebration day in san francisco. [applause] >> please stay for a moment. i would like to invite up all of the honorees. please come to stand.

[applause] this is the latino community in 2011, everyone. [applause] we are so happy to honor all of you tonight. [applause] >> thank you. >> i wish everybody a happy latino heritage month in san

francisco. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much, mr. mayor. it is always a pleasure to have with us the minority leader's office of the united states of america. we're always excited to have a special letter from the minority leader. please welcome nicole rivera. >> buenes tardes. the leader wishes she could be here, but we did have house floor votes today. congratulations to all of the honorees for providing leadership and service to the

san francisco bay area. the hispanic dream is the american dream. whether serving with great patriotism in the armed services, pursuing higher education, preserving and sharing their culture, demonstrating commitment to family and faith, education and work, the hispanic community makes america a more american. it is my honor today to nominate someone to the table of 12. he brings an understanding of the need to reduce the deficit by creating jobs. last month, i met with a dozen small-business owners in the district and taken their message to the table of 12 so that they know the american entrepreneurial spirit and focus on small business is the answer to job creation. more hispanics are pursuing higher education than ever before.

october 20107 all-time high for spent in rome and in college. this is possible because of our increasing of the eplpell grants by more than 1/3. we have invested over $1 billion in hispanic institutions in the next five years. we've been fighting to go to $30 million. now it is $1 billion. house democrats passed the dream act. it received a majority of votes in the senate, but did not meet the 60 vote requirement. we will not stop fighting until it is the law of the land. [applause] we will not stop fighting for a comprehensive immigration reform to honor america's diversity, which is our strength. our country stands on the long

term idea that anybody can achieve the american dream. hispanic heritage month reminds us all of the strength of our hispanic community's faith in that very american idea. thank you very much, nancy pelosi, house democratic leader. [applause] >> the next portion of our program, this award was named in honor of one of our most fierce local, state or, and national and international leaders that we could ever have in our community. it is so important for us to carry on her traditions and values. the people we're recognizing tonight are those who struggled against the grain, always looking for the next victory and possibility for their

communities. it is with great honor that we continue to recognize them tonight with all of you. i would like to invite up to the stage to present to the family of mauricio vela the lifetime achievement award. bear with me for a moment. i would like to say a few words. he was born in san francisco on december 18, 1959. he graduated from st. paul sacred heart high school in uc- berkeley. he served at the bernal heights neighborhood center and also as its director. he sat on various boards and commissions, most recently for the jamestown community center.

he provided consulting services and was a leader on a recent ongoing neighborhood issue to save the preschool and mural. he has been described as one of the great ones in community building in san francisco and an extraordinarily gifted organizer. we're joined by his two son s -- we're joined by his two sons. and like to invite them up with his sister rosie and supervisor campos. it is with great respect, and dignity, and honor that we present to you on behalf of the city and county of san francisco the dolores huerta lifetime achievement award for 2011. [applause]

thank you. to say a few words for a moment, carlos vela. >> i am little nervous. i want to say on behalf of my family and by that we are extremely honored to be here tonight. my dad was born and raised in the city. he spent his entire life doing what he could to help and serve the community. at time's growing up, i did not know what we were doing. now that i am older, i realize he was held -- willing to help others before he was willing to help themselves. that is a great virtue to have. at times, it is frustrating. i want to thank you, the mayor, is an honor to be here accepting this award in my home town for my father. thank you. [applause]

>> when i got hired, mauricio told me to come and meet with him and tell them what we were going to do for the mission. next i have the honor of presenting a lifetime achievement award to the family of eric casada, a great friend and community leader. unlike for the family and supervisor -- i would like for the family and supervisor avalos to come up here. we could spend lots of time speaking tonight, but we will try to keep it short. he was born in los angeles in 1965 to a guatemalan family. when he was 5, he moved to san

francisco. his parents opened up a shop on 24th street. it was a sports and bike shop that led to his passion for soccer and being a giants fan. he grew up in the mission during the 1970's and 1980's during the struggles were happening in latin america. that is what led to his engagement and solidarity with people throughout the world in his struggle for social justice. he studied at chico state where he had a scholarship for soccer. he studied international relations and latin american studies. after school, he came back to the mission. he worked in many places including housing. he helped to organize and found people organizing for environmental justice. he was one of the co-founders of the mission and the displacement coalition in the 1990's when

many families were being displaced out of the mission. he also was one of the founders of the grassroots democratic club. he is a great friend stu so many of you her -- is a great friend to many viewers here tonight. we will greatly miss him. we're very thankful to you for raising the son that you raised and gave to us. thank you. [applause] >> now, we would like to welcome back to the stage diana before

we begin the next portion of our program. [applause] i think they just took your guitar. please bring it back. ladies and gentlemen, diana gameros. [applause] >> i am really sorry. hello? ♪

♪ [guitar] ♪ ♪ [singing in spanish] ♪

♪