>> i would like to introduce

furturo picante. the director is jose leon. they're one of the great draws for tonight. when people heard they were going to be here, the phones kept on ringing. in just a moment we'll hear from them. and if the rest of our awardees could join the north side mayor in the forecourt. ladies and gentlemen, furturo picante.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪ [applause]

[applause] ♪ [applause] ♪

>> once again, everybody, this is a band from the mission cultural center and i hope you enjoyed it. we're going to play a couple more tunes, but if you really want to dance, make sure you visit us in the north court over there, because we're going to do some really great dancing, ok? so ready, guys? ♪

♪ ♪ [singing in spanish] ♪

[singing in spanish] ♪

[singing in spanish] ♪ ♪ [singing in spanish] ♪

[speaking in spanish] ♪ ♪

♪ [applause] >> ok, we're going to play one more tune for you all. my name is jose leon.

everybody knows miguel. yes, all right. . [applause] ♪ >> this is a classic from the 1950's i hope you like. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ [singing in spanish] ♪ ♪

♪ [speaking in spanish] ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ [applause] >> once again, everybody, thank you very much. once again, we're furturo picante. come and visit us. we meet on wednesdays. i also have a younger group that you have to see. they're here on tuesdays. they're anywhere from 5 to 13. so you've got to see the other band. so once again, thank you, and we'll see you a little later. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, furturo picante! [applause]

again, i'm joined tonight by lisa, who is our senior community development specialist at the mayor's office of housing. she'll be helping me honor the honorees. >> good evening, everyone. right now we have the honor of introducing the delores huerta lifetime achievement award. >> tonight we took a few moments to recognize luisa ezquerro for the incredible work she did over her lifetime to benefit all the citizens of the county. we want to take a few moments to have some of her closest friends and colleagues come up and say a few words about her before we have carmen receive the delores huerta achievement award on her behalf. so please join us here at the podium. [applause]

>> i was luisa's friend and neighbor for almost 40 years and she was one of the more inspirational figures in my life. i don't need to go through all the list of her accomplishments, which are in this book and which are not entirely complete. what impressed me the most about her was her dedication to her work as a teacher. every time i walked with her through our neighborhood or any other neighborhood in the city, without fail somebody in their teens or 20's or 30's would come up and acknowledge her and say, you know, you were my teacher in such and such a year and you were the best teacher i ever had and you helped me more than any teacher i ever had. and that was not an occasional curns. she was also dedicated to her

work with the union and she had a good personality for that. she was a very assertive person. she taught me a little bit about community organizing, and together we organized our street into a neighborhood organization that has lasted for about 35 years and is still effective. in later years she became interested in housing issues and was on the board of a mission housing development corporation, and she was also interested in health care issues and recruited me to be with her on the board at the mission neighborhood health center where we served together, she for about 30 years, and me for 10 or 12 years. and to talk a little bit about that is the fornler director of the mission health neighborhood center, gladys. >> thank you, doctor. [applause] [speaking spanish] >> thank you, distinguished

representatives of the family of the city, and mayor. i know he had to run. to me this is a tremendous, tremendous honor that lieu ease sa and manuel -- luisa and manuel bestowed upon me to say a few words about louise safment whenever she ran for supervisor, she was calling the friends, making the sandwiches and doing many things in the area. but always following her advice and sharing her ideas, because that's what luisa was, always networking with everyone and sharing ideas. so on behalf of carmen and manuel ezquerro, who wish to express their gratitude to the

2010 heritage month smith. whatever you are, unfortunately, i don't know any of you for the first time in my life. so thank you. thank you very much. i know that luisa and her honorable mother, donna, esther as well, are smiling up tonight looking at what's going on. luisa's contribution to our city and future generations to come were based on her beliefs that preservation of natural rights was an essential part of the social contract, and that consent of the people was fundamental to any zice exercise. power to the people she used to say.

she worked diligently in developing the strategies of short and long-term goals. one constantly would receive a phone call, and many of you know, to show up for such and such a meeting, bring in new ideas and facts and figures about a particular issue. rights at the time seemed to be ignored or attempt to eliminate. these were the issues. she defend the rights of educators to be recognized and respected by the system, the rights to access health care in affordable, accountable, available to all people, particularly to the foreign-speaking communities. she believed that every individual should have access to affordable, clean and safe housing. finally, one of her major concerns was the contributions of current latina-latinos were not documented in the annals of

the city and county of san francisco. but tonight the committee and the mayor have shown that you will go forward and do this, and luisa will never have to worry that the latino contributions are not recorded in the city and county of san francisco. thank you very much for all of your attention and appreciation and recognition of luisa. good night. [applause] >> thank you very much, gladys and charles. in presentation to manuel and to carmen, the delores huerta lifetime achievement award, on behalf of their sisters incredible lifetime commitment and dedication to the city and county. [applause]

we have a very special guest tonight from one of our greatest leaders currently here in the united states. i would like to welcome nicole rivera to come and read a letter from the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. thank you for being with us, nicole. [applause] >> thank you, joaquin, for that great introduction of our house speaker. i'm really happy to be here on her behalf. she sends her regrets for not being able to be here in person, but she did send a little greeting that i'm happy to read now. dear friends, congratulations to all the san francisco latino heritage committee honorees for providing leadership and service to the san francisco bay area. the many contributions of latinos reflect america's diversity, our rich heritage and a promising future.

hispanic americans will continue to add to our national portrait, to our culture and to our history of progress. tonight we honor the waves of hispanic immigrants who have come to our shores and enriched our nation. many have been here for generations. others may have just arrived. with their determination to build a better future and their commitment to safe family and community, we are all making america more american. this is the essence of our history, to honor the character of america. we must pass comprehensive immigration reform. [applause] i am proud to support the dream act and i hope that its passage -- [cheers and applause] -- i am proud to support the dream act and i hope that its

passage will mark the first step toward reaching that goal. in congress, working with president obama, we have acted to address the challenges facing the hispanic community and shared by all americans. we passed health care reform, which will extend coverage to 32 million more people and nearly nine million latinos and strengthen the fight against health days parties. [applause] -- against health disparities. [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.