In Your Community | UnidosUS

Honoring Affiliate Impact and Latinx Changemakers

This past July, we were welcomed and embraced by our Nevada Affiliates, helping us kick off our 2024 Annual Conference in Las Vegas.

There, we convened 2,084 Latino leaders and advocates and celebrated our Affiliates and Latino changemakers, all while remembering “Our Time is Now!” as we, collectively, prepare to mobilize our community for the November election.

An annual tradition, UnidosUS presented awards to its national Affiliate of the Year, and five regional Affiliates of the Year, from among the more than 300 organizations in our Network. The Affiliate of the Year is the highest honor bestowed for exceptional work serving the organization’s community and was awarded to The Concilio, which has served the North Texas area for over 40 years, advancing equity for Latinos through their high impact programming in education, wealth and health.

Additionally, we recognized the exemplary work of one Affiliate in each region of our Network, which included Building Skills Partnership from California, Mountain Park Health Center from the Far West (AZ), Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development from the Midwest, Congreso de Latinos Unidos from the Northeast (PA) and Housing and Education Alliance from the Southeast (FL).

UnidosUS’s HOME initiative also announced its 2024 Premio HOME grantees during the Conference. The program awarded $1.1 million in grants to 18 local housing organizations from 14 states that are dedicated to making homeownership a reality for Latinos.

At the Conference Awards Gala Dinner, we honored five changemakers who have made significant contributions to the betterment of the Latino community and to our nation. The awardees included Maria Teresa Kumar, CEO of Voto Latino, who received the Graciela Olivarez La Raza Award; Astrid Silva, Executive Director of Dream Big Nevada who received the Maclovio Barraza Award for Leadership; Héctor Tobar, Author, who received the Ruben Salazar Award for Communications; and Dr. Richard Besser, CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who received the Raul Yzaguirre President’s Award.

Watch highlights from our annual conference including Janet Murguía’s keynote, plenaries and 2024 awardees here.