We are excited to announce several more 2018 National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast & Conference awardees!
Hands & Feet Award
For nearly twenty years, BronxConnect has been investing in the transformation of communities in the Bronx by serving youth and young adults in its alternative programs for court-involved and high-risk youth. BronxConnect provides mentoring, tutoring, advocacy, leadership development, job training, and mental health and social services for the youth in its care.
Reverend Wendy Calderon-Payne is the Executive Director of BronxConnect, and in her capacity also leads the Urban Youth Alliance International, Inc., a longstanding partner of Esperanza’s Real Time Mentoring Program for at-risk youth.
Hands & Feet Award
NEWSED is a Community Development Corporation (CDC), which has served the Denver Community since 1973. NEWSED’s primary focus has been to solve long-term economic problems in disadvantaged communities by securing and coordinating resources for neighborhood revitalization, developing needed shopping areas and services, fostering minority and neighborhood business ownership, job retention and creation, increasing home ownership and affordable rental opportunities, neighborhood organizing and hosting cultural events and activities that showcase the neighborhood’s predominately Latino population. NEWSED promotes holistic social and economic development opportunities.
Andrea Barela has served as a leader at NEWSED for over ten years, first as the Development Director and currently as the President and CEO since the beginning of 2018.
Mercedes Fuentes, NEWSED’s Director of Programs for nearly 10 years, has extensive experience in managing housing counseling and homeownership programs, and now manages a portfolio that includes housing counseling as well as small business development, lending circles, and other programs.
Trailblazer Award
Loso
started rapping for the sole purpose of effectively reaching teenagers in juvenile detention centers in his hometown, and years later the mission is still the same. Although Loso’s platform has grown and changed in recent years his gift is still used to glorify God and reach those who do not know him. Loso has a clear understanding that impressing the culture isn’t enough, he must also impact it. His talent has taken him all over the country and even overseas, opening up for some of the biggest names in Hip-Hop. God’s gift to Loso, whether it be rap performance, spoken-word poetry, or battle rapping, has truly been a blessing, not only to Loso but also those he comes in contact with.