around the uft
Hispanic Federation honors Weingarten
Apr 24, 2008 7:57 PM
Weingarten receives the Hispanic Federation’s Legacy Award from New York State Secretary of State Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez.
The Hispanic Federation, one of New York’s foremost civic and community groups, honored UFT President Randi Weingarten at its annual gala held on April 3 at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in Manhattan.
Weingarten received the group’s Legacy Award for her outstanding contribution to the betterment of the lives of all public school students, especially Latino students. For years Weingarten has fought to bring down the barriers that Hispanic families face in public education.
“At a time when school budget cuts threaten to erode the gains we’ve made for children and their teachers, receiving the Legacy Award gives me a burst of energy and the optimism necessary to keep up our fights,” Weingarten said. “The Hispanic Federation is a powerful force for change and has always been an ally in holding the city to its promises to our children.”
She promised, “The UFT and the Hispanic Federation will continue to work side by side to ensure that public education gets the resources it needs to lower class size and more broadly so that children can not only dream their dreams, but achieve them as well.”
UFT President Randi Weingarten is flanked by (from left) Hispanic Federation Chair Dilbert Casellas, Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo, Hispanic Federation President Lillian Rodriguez-Lopez and board member Peter Fein.
The winners of other philanthropic, achievement and community activism awards were Mark Cornell, CEO of Moet Hennessy USA, Leo Hindery Jr. of InterMedia Partners, actor John Leguizamo and the Amber Charter School, which is the city’s first Latino bilingual charter school and whose staff is represented by the UFT.
The gala, which brings together more than 80 of the nation’s business executives, public officials and community leaders, raises funds to help the Latino community. Among the distinguished guests were Nina Garcia, best-selling author and a judge of Bravo’s hit show “Project Runway,” New York Secretary of State Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez and Rebecca Gomes of Fox Business Network. Grammy Award winner Dan Zanes performed a preview of his Spanish-language debut album.
The Hispanic Federation is a membership organization representing 97 Latino health and human service agencies in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
