REFORMA LA would like to extend our gratitude to our wonderful generous supporters whose participation made possible a fantastic Awards Luncheon celebration on June 5, 2016 from 1-3 p.m. at the East Los Angeles Public Library.
New Mexico State Library Commissioner and former Executive Director American Library Association Elizabeth Martinez, gave an inspiring keynote address to our 2016 Elizabeth Martinez and Dr. Karin Duran scholarship winners and Luncheon attendees. Our Chapter was delighted to award our 2016 scholarship winners Anita-Marie E. Martinez, Janet Garcia, and Jimmy Zavala each with $1000 dollars and a certificate of recognition.
Día de los Niños Mini-Grant winner, Dr. Romelia Salinas gave us a recap of her Dia community program held at California State University, Los Angeles on April 29, which was inspired by this year’s Newbery Medal winning book Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena, with illustrations by Christian Robinson.
We also congratulated Anna U’Ren, our ALA Student Travel Grant awardee, as well as our past REFORMA LA Chapter secretary and in-coming Public Information Officer, Juan Guillermo Garcia who was awarded the prestigious Spectrum Scholarship Award for 2016-2017. Our graduating MLIS students included Sylvia Aguiñaga, whose organization DIY Girls empowers girls by teaching coding and applying science, tech, engineering, and math (STEM) skills in creative ways is making big waves in library innovation.
Oralia Garza de Cortes, co-founder of the Pura Belpre Award, also spoke about the outreach advocacy work she is doing with REFORMA’s Children in Crisis Project. She encourage us all to get involved in the project, and described how La Librería, a bookstore in Los Angeles that specializes in Spanish language children’s books, recently held a storytime fundraiser to benefit the Children in Crisis Project.
Sonia Bautista also shared about the library outreach project she is coordinating with the Salvadoran Consulate. Named La Biblioteca Prudencia Ayala de el Consulado de El Salvador, the project was created to serve the children and families that visit el Conulado de El Salvador. Read more about the project in this month’s REFORMA LA’s Newsletter. HERE PLEASE LINK TO SONIA’S PIECE.
The REFORMA Los Angeles Chapter also extended a warm and enthusiastic welcome to J. Carlos Rodriguez. Carlos is now the University Library Dean, at California State University Los Angeles. Welcome to Los Angeles Carlos! We are happy you’re here.
Please remember that the REFORMA Los Angeles Chapter raises funds year around to support our annual Elizabeth Martinez and Dr. Karin Durán MLIS graduate scholarships. Help us make this another successful year! If you would like to donate to our 2017 scholarship fund, please send checks made payable to:
REFORMA Los Angeles, c/o Madeline Peña
16211 Downey Ave., Unit 131
Paramount, CA 90723