Lupe Sánchez- Community Advocate and Volunteer
Mrs. Sánchez was one of the first volunteers to register voters in 1952 playing a critical role in ensuring that Latino citizens exercised their right to vote.  Ms. Sánchez held a seat on the Santa Clara County Health and Welfare Commission from 1972-1975. She is a legendary advocate in the immigrant community  and in the Catholic Church of South Santa Clara County.  She served as a Catechism teacher, Parish Council President and Archdiocese.  In 1975 her volunteerism expanded to doing missionary work in Guatemala. For over 50 years Mrs. Sanchez dedicated her volunteerism to helping our most vulnerable communities by assisting with translations, serving as an advocate, providing food and clothing to the poor and transport cancer patients for treatment. Ms. Sanchez’s selfless dedication to our most volnerable community and endless dedication to volunteerism is a testament to the pureness of the human spirit. 

Carmen Sánchez- Community Advocate and Volunteer
Carmen Sánchez is known in south county as a community volunteer and champion of the immigrant community.   Ms. Sanchez started her work as a local business woman in Gilroy CA in the early 1950’s.  Ms. Sanchez recognized her true calling to serve the Catholic Church which lead her to missionary work through the Latin American Mission Program.  Ms. Sanchez did missionary work for over 8 years in Mexicali, México and Guatemala.  Post her mission in South American she worked for Catholic Social Services in Gilroy as the supervisor of the immigration counseling department. Her commitment to the Latino community impacted and supported community members contending with immigration issues and in need of social service support.  Ms. Sanchez commitment to community and endless dedication to improving the lives of our most in need is true to the spirit of giving. 

Ernesto Galarza- Humanitarian, Activist and Author
Ernesto Galarza was born in Jolcocotán, Nayarit, México on August 15, 1905. Propelled by revolution and compelled by economic invitation of the railroad, his family came to California. Soon orphaned by the death of his mother in the influenza epidemic, farm work beckoned the immigrant child as a means of survival. In the roots of that adversity, magnified by his growing bicultural fluency, young Ernesto found his calling to fight to improve the living conditions of working-class Latinos through education, research and organization. Dr. Galarza was a consummate scholar, earning degrees from Occidental College, Stanford University and Columbia University as he pressed forward with his cause for justice. He was instrumental in the creation of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) and what has become the National Council of La Raza. His courageous life-risking efforts to better the working conditions and wages of Bolivian tin miners took him to legislative negotiations with President Roosevelt and culminated in his receiving the highest award from the government of Bolivia, the Order of the Condor (la Orden Nacional del Cóndor de los Andes). He passionately stood on the ramparts of economic corruption sounding a call-to-action against the exploitation of the Bracero Program with his report, Strangers in the Field, that received nationwide press coverage, including the Los Angeles Times. At the foundation of his multi-pronged eight-decade campaign for human dignity lay the power of the well-written word. In recognition of his accomplishments in that arena, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature - another "first" among the U.S. Latino community.

César E. Chávez- American Civil Rights Leader
Chávez was noted as "one of the heroic figures of our time" by Senator Robert F. Kennedy. César Chávez was a civil rights, Latino, farm worker, and labor leader; a religious and spiritual figure; a community servant and social entrepreneur; a crusader for nonviolent social change; and an environmentalist and consumer advocate. César became a migrant farm worker at age 10 with his family after losing their farm in the Great Depression. His life as a community organizer began in 1952 when he joined the Community Service Organization (CSO), a prominent Latino civil rights group. While with the CSO, César coordinated voter registration drives and conducted campaigns against racial and economic discrimination primarily in urban areas. In 1962, César resigned from the CSO to establish the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers of America. For more than three decades César led the first successful farm workers union in American history, achieving dignity, respect, fair wages, medical coverage, pension benefits, and humane living conditions, as well as countless other rights and protections for hundreds of thousands of farm workers. Against previously insurmountable odds, he led successful strikes and boycotts that resulted in the first industry-wide labor contracts in the history of American agriculture. His union's efforts brought about the passage of the groundbreaking 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act to protect farm workers.

Blanca Alvarado- Civic Leader
Blanca was elected to the Board of Supervisors in March 1996, after completing Zoe Lofgren's unexpired term. In January 1998, Blanca served as the first Latina Chairperson in the County's history. Blanca is currently serving her third and final term as County Supervisor. As the County Supervisor for the Second District, Blanca represents over 350,000 residents living throughout San José. Prior to serving on the Board of Supervisors, Blanca began her work in public service as the first San José City Council representative of District Five in 1980. Nine years later, she became the first Latina Vice Mayor in the City's history. Blanca is a long-time resident of San José. Born in Cokedale, Colorado, Blanca and her family moved to California with the hope of a better life. As a youth, she attended San José High School and participated in many community projects through the Club Tapatio.

Dr. B. Roberto Cruz- Education Trailblazer
Dr. B. Roberto Cruz is the founder and first President of The National Hispanic University.  He committed 39 years of his life to educating people and pioneering new ways to reach those who needed it most.  He was a visionary leader with boundless energy that was focused on innovative solutions to educational issues facing Hispanics and minorities.  In his lifetime, Dr. Cruz established 2 childcare centers, the Latino College Preparatory Academy and The National Hispanic University.  For the past 20+ years, these institutions have educated thousands of students and will continue for decades to come.