Participants great. Yeah. Yeah. We're now live well good afternoon. everyone. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us this afternoon. This is our second annual Florida's 26 Congressional Hispanic Heritage Awards. I'm so proud proud to represent Florida's 26 congressional districts. It is one of the most diverse districts in the country with nearly 70% of the population here being Hispanic is. mejor vida aquí en el sur de la Florida. Colombia, Venezuela, México, Nicaragua, Ecuador, en Summit Pricess, ólogas, fora. Latino Community, es Flora. Thousand Hispanic owned businesses across the state contribute over $90000000000 to Florida's economy each year, one in Washington, DC. In the front lines of the coveted response, I find inspiration in the Hispanic members of our community who stepped up as doctors nurses farm workers, teachers and front line workers who have not only led the recovery of our county but have been actively working to keep our economic engine running. so today as we close out Hispanic Heritage month, it is my honor to celebrate a few of those Hispanic leaders. some of the most incredible Hispanic leaders. In our community who have gone above and beyond for South Florida, we started doing these congressional Hispanic awards last year and it is my commitment to recognize Hispanic leaders who have made significant contributions in the areas of education business sports advocacy community service and arts and culture. I will I will be submitting your recognitions today to the congressional record to become a concrete part of our history so to begin I would like to start by recognizing someone that I've admired. For decades since I've been here living in Miami and South Florida doctor by their own doctor who is an American by choice, arrived here in the United States as a teenager as a refugee in 1961 since 1995, he has served as president of Miami Dade College, the largest degree granting institution of higher education in all of the United States. He is credited with elevating Miami-Dade College into a position of national prominence among the best and most. Recognized colleges and universities doctor has been recognized on the national and international stage for his achievements and was even awarded a presidential medal of freedom by President Barack Obama. He's been celebrated on the list of the ten Best college presidents and as a Floridian of the year in 2011, the Washington Post names in one of the eight most influential college presidents in the United States, his achievements and value. To our community cannot be understated doctor I recognize your achievements this month with a congressional award and here's I'm gonna show it. I hope that you can see it on camera, but I will give it to you officially in person where we can meet certificate of special congressional recognition for all of your contributions. Thank you so much for what you have done for our community here in South Florida. I think doctor I think you may be muted. May I say a couple of words, oh, please suck your brother. You have the floor. This is very humbling and I wanna tell you how pleased I am to be here with you today and the other uh people you're recognizing because they are in fact, true leaders of this community without exception and uh I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to uh recognize the contributions of the Hispanic Latin. Community We're all very proud Hispanics very proud Latinos and to have someone like you uh take the time to give this recognition means a lot not only to us the recipients but to the entire community and we're very grateful to you for the great work that we're doing representing us, It means a lot to us and we wanna thank you and tell you that we're very proud of you. Doctor brother and I'm gonna get emotional this is about all of you and what you've done in the community that II can't get emotional now um do you have any words to all the students that are watching? Yes II definitely do because they are my inspiration. They have been my inspiration for many years and as I talk to many of students in high school um the one thing that impresses me the most about this generation, which I think is the best generation that I have seen in my entire life if the fact that they. Want to make a difference they want herbs, They wanna sense of commitment and uh when I ask them uh why are you in school? They tell me because the knowledge that I get in the classroom I wanna have to be able to impact my community. I wanna be able to use that knowledge to have influence uh to be able to get things done so we can build a more and equitable society for all the citizens and that is very. Taught you that is something that I admire a lot and I know these youngsters that are looking today are the future leaders you and I know that and the fact that they take interest in things like the ones we're doing today uh is an indication that we have a great future ahead of us. Absolutely doctor Thank you so much um and uh we are community is grateful to have you leading in these efforts and education our students. Lucky to Have you um I will now move to recognize chef Adrian Chef Adrian Now if you are a foodie and even if you're not a booty in South Florida, you know chef Adrian Adrian has taken the food scene by storm firmly establishing herself as a celebrity chef and author television personality a philanthropist and a restaurant chore. I can't this is where the Hispanic. Comes out can't pronunciation that very well today she has produced as of today you have produced Adrian Five cookbooks Adrian became the youngest person to cook for the United Nations and its ambassadors while also displaying her expertise for CN Correspondents competing in food, network's chopped and beat Bobby Flay and being featured in top food publications like Gourmet magazine, bona petite and severe in 2018. She was once again named Miami's best chef by the New Times and was awarded the best fight of the beach during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival Adrian has also been cooking for families and patients at Saint Jude's Children's Research Hospital as part of her make it Count foundation since 2007. Adrian Thank you so much we will be recognizing you and hopefully I will be able to see you soon and give you the certificate in person. Thank you for everything that you do to bring that case. Thank you look first. Thank you. I'm truly humbled um on many friends, I would like to accept this award on. I think I speak for a generation whose parents and grandparents came from uh these Latin countries and they struggled to make it in a foreign country that just you Monetarily wise but a language they had to acclimate to a different culture. so we come from fighters and. Drivers But um I've been very fortunate and now I feel I feel even fortunate because I can't believe that it's not just about Hispanic heritage now I'm receiving this award from a brilliant woman like yourself just a few decades ago. This wouldn't even happen a woman to a woman um and we're talking about success and we're talking about the evolution of a society and pushing forward. So this is a representation of progress and I think that all of us as a people um regardless of politics just as goodness and happy things. You know this is just wonderful so thank you. Thank you. Thank you and thank you again well. Chef Adrian uh you've brought so much joy to our community with all those flavors that you invent. so let us know if you have anything new coming out so that we can you can see you. thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you um now I would like to introduce and recognize someone that I've known for years since I started working over 20 years ago at the psychological Society of Florida and that's Maria Alonzo. Someone that I can call also a good friend, a great community leader Maria is president and Ceo of the United Way of Miami-Dade her rich history of community leadership includes sharing the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and the New World School of the Arts serving as co-chair of one Community One goal initiative and currently serving as a board member of the Beacon Council, she has served on the boards of the Miami Foundation Camilla's House. Dade College Foundation, among others as President and Ceo Maria is responsible for engaging the passion and expertise expertise thousands of contributors and hundreds of corporate and community partner partners and support of United Ways. Mission of building a community by helping people care for one another, she guides the strategic direction operations and finances of the largest private funder of health and human services in Miami-Dade County. We are so grateful for your work. Maria Thank you. I have known you for such a long time and your heart your work. your mind has your your entire life has been dedicated to uplifting our community and I'm very grateful for that and again I will personally hand this to you when we can see each other in person. Thank you so much well I absolutely look forward to that and it's so good to call you congresswoman as you noted, we've known. Each other for a very long time and I think have the shared passion for this community that we have been honored to call our home um I have to say uh it really is an honor to be recognized among this group of colleagues and Miami and uh and to do so next to someone that I call a friend and um really one of our community's greatest icon Doctor for me is very special. so thank you. Congresswoman uh for that and congratulations to all the honorees. uh I'm I'm grateful to be in your company um I would just say to the students and I couldn't agree more with what has been said um, we're lucky my mother right, my family paved the way for me to be here and to be able to contribute to our community and the sacrifices that that generation that our families made is what inspires. Every single day to make this community better for all of us, that's what drives me and I have the privilege to be able to do so now from you know my new role at United Way. That's not so new anymore, but to the students that are watching I just wanna remind you that we don't choose the family that we're born into and we don't choose the circumstances that we're born in but every single day we have choices and we choose. Who we are and how we come to the table and to the community and so I urge you I agree with doctor that this generation wants to make a difference wants to be at the table and wants to make our communities better for all. so I urge you to continue to do that. I urge you to give back I urge you not to be distracted by noise and to just show up and fight for a better community for us. all we're we're with you and we. Here to support you and thank you um and continue to invest in lifelong changing of lifelong learning education is the key uh it is what opens the doors for all of us and so our future is bright. uh with you uh leading it so thank you again. uh congresswoman. I really appreciate it. Thank you Maria such wise words and um such a such a. Moment for all of us in our community and I think that our students appreciate that. thank you now. I am excited to introduce our youngest honoree and today in the Hispanic Heritage of Congressional Awards, a talented young man Nick Sanchez Nick's love for auto racing started at the age of five when he went to his first Nascar truck race at the Homestead Miami Speedway by the age of twelve, he began cart racing in his hometown of Miami and now he's a rising. In the sport, he has fourteen top ten and eleven top five finishes and classes ranging from junior senior and shifter off the track. Nick continues to be a mentor and an ambassador ambassador meaningful endeavors and cost related efforts, especially with the younger population. Nick has represented the Nascar Drive for diversity program as a young accomplished Hispanic young man he has volunteered and helped promote causes with the Nascar Foundation to improve the lives of children who need medical attention through the speed. Children's Fund he has visited Saint Jude and multiple elementary schools, encouraging and inspiring kids across the country. He's a great role model to all of us here in South Florida. Nick are you there? I don't see you. I'm over here. Oh there. you are okay there you are Nick. I would like I'm gonna have to come down when you're actually in the car racing to give you this Congressional award. Okay. get on there. My kids are very. Congratulations. Thank you so much um it is honestly an honor to accept an award like this because uh I mean as you know in South Florida, a Nascar driver, you know, it's not. it's not a popular sport. It's not very common for someone from Miami. Nevertheless, a latin person to be associated with the sport like this and you know all my family and friends that are from Miami that never really had an experience in Nascar or watching it. You know they now have the opportunity. To follow someone like me and I get to kinda bring it closer um to the to South Florida Miami and uh kinda give them something to associate with the little one. No. thank you so much Nick and my only advice is just keep wearing that helmet. Okay. That's all that's all I wanna say as a mom, that's all I keep thinking about, but we're very proud of you. make us proud down here in South Florida. Now I would this is I'm excited to honor and introduce to you a Martinez Martinez moved to the Homestead Redland community with her husband in 1988 where she enrolled her children at the leisure Dean Head Start center at Leisure Leisure Dean. She found voice advocating for her sons as well as all the children in the head Start community today. Miss Martinez is the Chief Financial Office officer Chief Operations Officer for Community Center where she has worked for over 23 years. Miss Martinez. Only advocates and works for children and families. She's also a mentor, a teacher, encouraging others to further their education and find their voice. Miss Martinez has dedicated and continues to dedicate much of her time volunteering with community and faith-based organizations and continues to advocate for children and families. Miss Martinez tireless efforts on behalf of all the children and families has been steady and serving and exemplifies everything that is best. Our nation because of her love for her community for our children, I would like to present with congressional recognition for the work that she has done at leisure. Thank you so much Thank you. I would start I would like to start by saying um thank you to Congresswoman Debbie Mercy Powell um I am. I am very honored to receive this award um I. I'm just very honored um we have a representative in our community that works relentless for our community for the betterment of our community in district Twenty-six. Thank you. Thank you all. I know this is about you and the work that you've done for years to lift up our children who need who need that help and I'm very proud of everything that you've done. Thank you for being a bright light for those kids at leisure. Thank you and um I wanted to um tell the youth are the children um there are yes, they're listening. uh Huh II wanted um to tell the children that they are um our inspiration. They are our hope there are future There are future leaders for tomorrow um. We hold on to I'm so sorry we couldn't do it without our children in this nation. Right now with everything going on covet nineteen um our children our future our future that. We depend on we there are success um our education that you know and hard work they um. They can get everywhere um we have we have to be the the trail Blazers you congresswoman our trailblazer and represent us in the community um that I would like to tell the children that um leave them with some words of wisdom that um like our president, the Twenty-sixth president of United States, said. um uh Teddy Roosevelt nothing worth having. It's not accomplished without effort. Thank you. Thank you o. Yeah. That's I think we all of us in this call relate to that right um thank you so much now next I would like to take this moment to honor Susan Rubio Rivera Susan has used her life experiences to bring the issues of domestic and sexual violence and child abuse to the forefront. Susan founded Mo, which stands for Moss and Lucas. in 1994. A non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of healthy lifestyles, emotional wellness and family stability through these efforts. Susan has been able to reach out to families from all walks of life and backgrounds. Her mission is simple to improve the quality of life for women and children and to create a safe haven where these children can experience Hope Susan Thank you so much for the work that you have done with Mo II have followed you for years even before I came to Congress and I've. Has been very impressed and it's great to know that women can count on you for safety for refuge for support um so with that, I would like to hand it over to you and present you with the Congressional Award. Susan Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I'm deeply honored. Thank you so much congressman um who would have thought a third generation my coworker working in the fields as a kid, and I think that some of us in this uh middle um in this Facebook live can know that along. Long time ago when I was growing up as a as a former child as a migrant worker, 90% of us were never going to achieve, We were never gonna graduate or anything like that so to me um this is you know life coming full circle. You know it just you know pays a testament to the fact that if we really believe that we can we will out of it. So thank you so much II really appreciate. I appreciate this um II. Still, you know, find it hard to call you congresswoman. I wanna call you again that. And and I wanted to to say to the teenagers here ah when I thought about the what can I say that will resonate with them what can I say that's important so I wanted to talk about choices I think also talk about choices and we have choices in life ah and yes you know we make choices and no one likes to be so I am not telling everyone what to do but I am saying that whatever we choose to do has Consequences So when I was a teenager, a long time ago, I had a choice I made choices and a lot of times you know it wasn't the best choice, but at the end of the day they were my choices so I had to live with whatever I decided to do so I ran away from home when I was 15 years old, I married young at sixteen um and I had two children at the age of nineteen and no education. I thought my life was over at nineteen. I thought that my life was over, but my life was not over. It was just beginning I surrounded myself with people who believed in me who saw in me when I didn't even see myself and they taught me about goals about creating a vision of how I wanted to go forward You know if I hadn't been for the support of those folks or those people, I don't know what my life would be like today because of them, I went to Miami to community college. I'm a proud alumni of Miami-Dade. so it's a pleasure to see you a doctor uh so today I want to meet you Uh II want to take these teenagers. I love thoughts I want. Say to you, then you need to you know, please believe in yourself recognize the goodness in you and share it with others believe that there isn't anything that you want that you can't accomplish if you set your mind to it and you create a plan you will be able to achieve that think ahead. What do you want for yourself? How are you going to achieve whatever it is that you want in life and I'm not just talking about becoming a meaner because I think that's the first thing that comes to mind right. I wanna win the lottery become a millionaire. That's that's a starfish idea. Some of them do that, but education I think is a real um way to get out of poverty surround yourself with people who want to lift you up teachers counselors their pastors parents, your grandparents and know that there are people out there that wanna help including men this month, we are celebrating Hispanic Hispanic Heritage Month and I would encourage you to learn about our heroes people who have made a difference. Friends like and in our very own congresswoman who has shown that despite the fact that she came to America, the very point she had a dream and she's living with she's she is living that dream today I would ask her to embrace her Hispanic culture and share this richness. I would ask you to value your family and and that you always remember your roots where you came from and celebrated with. And if and if we learn nothing else throughout covet nineteen, we have learned that we need to cherish each and every moment and everyone that is important in our life. Your parents, your grandparents and lastly, I leave you with a quote young people willing to push super hard to make something happen are among the most powerful forces in the world. This was set by Sam Altman. So with that, I leave you and again Congresswoman Thank you so much for celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Thank you so. Susan What an incredible story? Uh I didn't know all those details. Thank you for sharing that story with all of us. I'm sure that a lot of people relate to that, yes well last but certainly not least I would like to talk about our wonderful Arturo Lopez Arturo is the executive director of the Coalition of Florida Farm Worker organizations, an agency that would. Created to improve the working and living conditions of farm workers and the rural poor in Florida prior to assuming the position, which he presently holds mister Lopez was the executive director of the Illinois Migrant Council. Mister Lopez has dedicated most of his life to serving farm farm work organizations and migrant and seasonal farm workers because of his advocacy thousands of farm workers have been able to be protected under the law here in this country I met Arturo I am. Gonna forget the first time that he came to meet with me to share all the work that he had been doing to make sure that we advocate to protect the lives of farm workers if it weren't for our migrant workers down in south so many um families in South Florida would not be able to enjoy food in the table. so thank you so much for all the work that you've done here for Floridians and across the country and very soon I'll be able to do this in person. Thank you Arturo The floor is yours. I think you're very much first of all. I'd like to thank you again for creating this tradition in Florida. unfortunately, uh we're hopefully that other states will also follow this role. I am very proud to be with uh I'm a Mexican descent, but I love the uh uh. uh with all the cultures uh the diverse uh Latino populations that we have here and I'm a little bit bothered sometimes about people uh the United States. Given not really educating us on things that really uh should be known. I'm from New Mexico stated and I it really upsets me when someone says go back to where you belong because I'm from one of the states that here even before the United States was thinking of being created we in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado We're here. Up since 1880s when uh the uh the have sold those those states to the United States, we were already here We were here already and it really bothers me that no one really goes in and and let people know that we were here first before even before some of the natives were here and so it really uh obsessed me when I. Someone say go back to your country, no matter who we are. We are all here and we came here because we are we are part of the United States. We love the United States. We love uh Florida to the children to the kids the students I teach children because I'm older than most probably than all of you that are here right now, but unfortunately, you know, I don't have a lot of really good notes but unfortunately you have the you've folks the students have come to. Era where this country is almost upside down, you know we have uh and you have to start thinking uh participants is that you and your family have to start thinking about how you can protect yourself. Follow safety procedures uh not the procedures that politicians and other people think but think about what scientist and physicians tell you about health and how you and how you should protect yourself education. Educate yourself educate yourself so that you can plan a course of action uh for uh action for your social mentally and financial status and always look at what is going around your community. Look at some of the things that you like and some of the things that you don't like and see how you can improve uh the community a lot of the things that you don't like and things that you wish would happen is because. Politics Remember one vote can change a lot so don't forget when you get up to the age that you can vote get out there and vote good luck in your future and if can help you with anything, please let know we're here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much Arturo um with that. I'm gonna turn it over to Katie. I don't know if if we have some media outlets. I don't know if we have any questions for any of this afternoon. The congresswoman we don't have any questions so if you want to give your final remarks, that would be great well, this has been the highlight of my year so far, I have to say to celebrate such incredible leaders and talent that we have here in our community um Hispanic heritage shouldn't just be 1 month. We should be celebrating our contributions our diversity and who we are every single day of the year and to the students. Today, please listen to the wise advice of all of our honorees today know who you are be proud of who you are and where you come from make sure that you make the right choices take responsibility for those choices and try and find a way that you can help others around you. This is this has been one of the toughest moments in the history of our nation, especially for our our younger going through a pandemic trying to find answers where so many of us are still trying to find those. Answers for this crisis, but um you are our future and that's what gives me so much optimism and knowing that we have incredible leaders here in our community. Thank you for joining Thank you for being here with me and uh our work continues. have a great and safe day and a safe week. Thank you everyone. God bless you.