4th Annual Public Policy Summit

09 Jan 2013 12:16 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

CLLARO Public Policy Summit &
CLF Annual Membership Convention

Join us in creating the
2013 COLORADO LATINO AGENDA!!!

The desired outcome of this year's public policy summit is the creation of the Colorado Latino Agenda - make sure your voice is included!

We are expecting over 300 Latino community members and leaders to take part of important conversations that will help CLLARO and CLF develop our 2013 COLORADO LATINO AGENDA! Please come be a part of the discussion and help our community continue to move forward!

Thank You to our 2013 Sponsors!

Circle of Latina Leadership 10th Anniversary

26 Dec 2012 10:33 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

10th Anniversary Celebration! The Circle will proudly present its 10th anniversary report listing its alumnae and accomplishments.

Empowering Latina Leaders

A Ten Year Legacy

Wednesday December 5th

6:00 - 8:30 PM

@ Museo de Las Americas

861 Sante Fe Drive, Denver CO

Get Out the Vote Event with America Ferrera

20 Nov 2012 4:30 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

What an absolutely amazing day we had on Sunday, November 4th! CLLARO partnered with Voto Latino for one final Get Out The Vote (GOTV) push prior to the elections. Escuela Tlatelolco hosted our community volunteer phone bank with about 40 volunteers making over 2,500 calls in just a couple of hours. Our volunteers were thanked by our special guest, Actress America Ferrera. Then our volunteers were treated to a special surprise when Legendary Activist, Dolores Huerta also came to thank the volunteers for their time and efforts. What an inspiring day with these two amazing women supporting the work of CLLARO and our effort to encourage the Latino community to vote this past election!

Thanks to our volunteer and Alejandra Valencia Photography for the great pictures!

2012 Bernie Valdez Awards Reception

20 Nov 2012 4:06 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

A heartfelt Thank You to everyone who attended our annual Bernie Valdez Awards Reception and made it such a lovely evening. We thank all our sponsors, speakers, awardees, volunteers and attendees.

Congratulations to all our award recipients!

Congratulations to this year's Alianza Award recipient,

Latino Community Foundation of Colorado!

The mission of the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado (LCFC) is to promote Latino philanthropy and to support organizations serving the Latino community.

http://www.rcfdenver.org/latinocfc/

_______________________________________________

Congratulations to this year's Esperanza Award Recipient,

Ruben Valdez

Ruben Valdez has over 20 years of experience in public service. In 1971,

he was elected to the State House of Representatives where he served for

eight years. He was elected Speaker of the House in 1975 and served as

House Minority Leader in 1977 – 1978.

He retired from the General Assembly in 1978 and accepted a

presidential appointment as Regional Director for the United States

Department of Transportation. In 1979, Valdez was selected by former

Governor Dick Lamm to serve in his cabinet as Executive Director of

Social Services. In that capacity, he was responsible for supervision of

both state and local government employees and 62 local government

offices.

After his three-year tenure at Social Services, Valdez accepted Governor’s

appointment to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment,

again as Executive Director. There he was responsible for supervision of

the state employees and of the 24 local job service centers.

In 1985, Valdez accepted a dual appointment by Governor Lamm to be

Executive Director for both the Department of Social Services and the

Department of Labor and Employment. He held this position for a year

and a half, leaving when Governor Lamm’s term ended.

Ruben received his bachelor of arts in political science from Loretto

Heights College in Denver and attended the Senior Executive Program at

the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Mr. Valdez is currently a government relations consultant. He has

represented many clients before state regulatory agencies and the

Colorado General Assembly. Some clients have been with him since the

start of his lobbying career, while others have needed his services for one

particular issue. He has represented national, regional and local ﬁrms as

well as government entities, professional and non-proﬁt associations and

a variety of other interests

_______________________________________________________________

Congratulations to this year's Poder Award recipient,

Representative Crisanta Duran!

Representative Crisanta Duran is a proud native of Colorado. Rep. Duran’s family has owned a ranch just West of Trinidad going back six generations. Rep. Duran credits her parents for instilling the importance of public service in her from a very early age - to making a difference by encouraging economic opportunity and access to the American dream.

Rep. Duran graduated from Arvada West High School with honors and was fortunate to receive a scholarship to attend the University of Denver, where she earned a double major degree in Public Policy and Spanish. While at school she continued her community activities in HD 5 - becoming an Executive Assistant at Family Star, a Montessori and Early Head Start Center, and spoke regularly to North High School students about the importance of pursuing and obtaining a higher education.

After graduating from the University of Denver, Rep. Duran began her study of law at the University of Colorado. While there, she was honored to be elected as President of the Student Bar Association, as well as President of the Latino Law Student Association.

After graduating from law school, Rep. Duran went to work for the 21,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, where she fought for better paying jobs and access to quality healthcare for thousands of working families across Colorado. Rep. Duran currently has her own legal practice.

Rep. Duran has served on the Judiciary, Finance, State Veterans & Military Affairs and Joint Council committees at the State Legislature. Rep. Duran was recently recognized in a Denver Post article titled, "Women Who Broke Political Barriers," and received The Denver Business Journal's "Forty Under 40" Award." In just one term, Rep. Duran has successfully reached across the aisle to pass legislation to connect the jobless with training to work for a Colorado employer or start a business; change the name of Metropolitan State University of Denver; encourage parent involvement in K-12 education; and create government efficiencies in the areas of affordable housing, childcare regulations and higher education.

_______________________________________________________________

Congratulations to this year's Adelante Award recipient,

Luis Corchado!

Born in Puerto Rico, raised in New York City and New Jersey, Luis moved to Colorado in 1988 after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is the proud father of twin sons. His move to Denver, Colorado was partly motivated by the fact that Denver had a Latino Mayor, Federico Peña. Since 1988, Luis has labored continuously for the Colorado Hispanic community. In his first year in Colorado, 1988, Luis volunteered in the effort to defeat the English Only citizens' initiative in Colorado. In 1989, working with the Hispanic Agenda (including Nita Gonzales), Luis pitched in to form the Hispanic League, Inc., a Colorado nonprofit, lobbying organization born out of the passage of the English Only initiative. Over the next six years, Luis progressed through the Hispanic League as a community organizer, general counsel, board member, and ultimately its President.

As general counsel for the Hispanic League in 1992, Luis assisted in both federal and state litigation related to redistricting, fighting for the Latino community. For several years beginning in 1995, Luis worked to defeat proposed antiaffirmative action legislation, which ended in 2008 when Colorado became the first state to vote down a Ward Connerly anti-affirmative action initiative. Luis helped draft pro-affirmative action legislation for former Senator Penfield Tate for the Colorado personnel system. Starting in 1997, and for the next 13 years, Luis served continuously on the Public Policy Committee for the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association, as a member, co-chair and then chair until 2010 when he moved to Washington, D.C. During his time as chair of the CHBA public policy chair, in 2002, he led the CHBA’s redistricting litigation, again fighting for the Latino community. In 2011, he participated a third time in redistricting litigation as chair of the CHBA’s redistricting team, which partnered with the Colorado Latino Forum throughout the year in both the State legislative and the U.S. congressional redistricting and litigation.

Luis served in a number of other community roles throughout his career. He has served on the board of Colorado Common Cause. He was the first official President of Colorado Unity, an organization created solely to combat anti-affirmative action attacks. He was appointed to two terms by Governor Roy Romer as a Colorado Real Estate Commissioner. He has been involved in civil rights litigation for over two decades. Mr. Corchado worked as an administrative law judge for the State of Colorado, leaving that position to serve as the Deputy Regional Manager for the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2010, Luis accepted an appointment in Washington, D.C., to serve as an appellate judge in the U.S. Department of Labor and where he still serves today.

________________________________________________________________

Congratulations to this year's Futuro award recipient,

Joelle Martinez!

Joelle Martinez is a Colorado native. Over the years she has become a well-known and recognized strategist, political expert and public relations specialist. Her areas of expertise include strategic development, grassroots outreach, voter targeting, organizational development, and communications. She is most recognized for her work on Latino voter analysis and Latino focused public relations.

Joelle Martinez co-founded REM and Associates in 2003 with Ramona Martinez, her grandmother and mentor. REM and Associates is a full service government and public relations firm that serves clients in Colorado, California, DC and New York. As a Principal, Joelle works with political clients, nonprofit organizations and Fortune 500 companies.

In 2008, Joelle began working with the prestigious Stratton Companies, now called Stratton-Carpenter and Associates. Stratton-Carpenter & Associates is an international consulting firm that provides planning, communications, and strategy services for a broad array of government, non-profit, and commercial clients.

Joelle has managed and consulted on local, state and national campaigns. She has worked with the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Colorado Democratic Party, AFSCME, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Voto Latino and many other local and national organizations.

As a public relations specialist, Joelle has worked with local and national organizations to implement effective media strategy. She has worked with small businesses to provide strategic and organizational consultation to encourage economic growth and stability. She has consulted Fortune 500 companies on key policy issues, such as, health care reform, education and new energy technology. Her true passion is working in the community to engage and empower the next generation of leaders and voters. She has worked with national organizations, celebrities, community leaders, youth and new citizens to promote civic engagement.

Joelle is a national trainer and political speaker. She has served as a guest commentator for media organization on issues relating to the Latino and youth vote in the Western region. Joelle Martinez serves as an Executive Board Member of Poder PAC and served as a founding board member of the Colorado Latino Forum.

Outside of work, Joelle enjoys spending time with her husband, Jason Prutch, and their 2 year old twins, Isabella and Mateo.

2012 Latino Civic Leadership Training

05 Jun 2012 3:49 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

2012 Campaign

Development Training!

CLLARO is proud to offer the 3rd annual Latino Civic Leadership training. This program was created to prepare the next generation of Latinos and Latinas interested in running for public office or serving as campaign managers.

Goals:

Fill the need for Latino representation and leadership in Colorado
Nonpartisan outreach and participation
Build a strong coalition of Latino leaders

Objectives:

Close the political leadership gap and work to ensure that Latino's representation continues to increase in all realms of politics
Develop campaign managers and provide tools for success
Establish strong, effective cross-training and mentorship for newly-trained candidates and managers

Training Topics:

Campaign Planning
Fundraising
Messaging
Mobilization

Images from our 2012 LCLT:

2012 Latino Civic Leadership Training

Thank you to this year's participants for making our Latino ivic Leadership training a success!

In partnership with:

3rd Annual Public Policy Summit

31 Jan 2012 10:59 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

3rd Public Policy Summit

Thank you to the 200 participants and guests who joined us for our Public Policy Summit and helped make it a success!

To view a copy of the speech that President and CEO OF NCLR Janet Murguia gave, click HERE

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

2012 Sponsors

WWME Logo

Denver International Airport Main Terminal, Concourse A & B

303-342-0190 fax 303-342-0188

Thank you to our Sponsors for supporting our annual public policy summit and annual convention!

CLLARO and CLF 3rd Annual Public Policy Summit

2011 Bernie Valdez Awards Reception

31 Jan 2012 10:45 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

Thank You to everyone who joined us on Friday, October 14th 2011 for the Bernie Valdez Awards Reception! For those who could not join us this year, we wanted to share a part of the evening with you! We look forward to next's year Bernie Valdez Awards Reception and your constant support of CLLARO throughout the year!