Hispanic Council Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary

District Becomes Stage For Annual Honors

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the National Council of La Raza, with its 300-plus affiliated community-based U.S. organizations, is presenting a series of events highlighting its achievements.

The nation's capital has been the stage for two celebrations. On March 3, the organization kicked off the anniversary by rededicating with a new red exterior nameplate the Ra¿l Yzaguirre Building at 1126 16th St., a few blocks from the White House. Presiding over the dedication was Janet Murgu¿a, NCLR's president and chief executive and a Midwest native who assumed leadership in 2005, after Ra¿l Yzaguirre retired.

Yzaguirre, described by Coretta Scott King in 1980 as "one of the most dynamic and committed social change activists of this decade," is widely credited with building the organization into the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy group. The private, nonprofit and nonpartisan group's focus is on improving opportunities for Hispanic Americans.

On March 4, NCLR held its Capital Awards gala at the National Building Museum, where it recognized key supporters. Reps. Lincoln D¿az-Balart (R-Fla.) and Hilda L. Solis (D-Calif.) were honored, along with Univisi¿n Communications, which was recognized for its public service.

"It is my privilege to be in the trenches with them on issue after issue," D¿az-Balart said of the council, while accepting the award.

In a column written for Hispanic Link News Service, Murgu¿a said, "While we have made much progress as a community and as a nation in the last 40 years, we still have work to do to realize our vision of a country where everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve the American dream."

In the organization's four-decade span, the U.S. Latino population has grown from 10 million to 44 million. Nothing has brought its economic, social and political gains into public focus more clearly than the influence it is having in the 2008 presidential race, Murgu¿a said.

"It has become clear that the Latino vote will define this election," Murgu¿a said in her address at the awards gala.

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, Latinos made up 30 percent of the voters in the Democratic primary in California, up from 16 percent in 2004. In Texas, 32 percent of Democratic primary voters this year were Latinos, compared with 24 percent in 2004.

About 1 million Hispanic immigrants became citizens through NCLR's efforts last year. The "ya es hora" -- Now Is the Time -- campaign in partnership with Univisi¿n encourages new U.S. citizens to "march to the voting booths this November" and become part of the democratic process.

"We also want to build across to other communities of color so that we can have agendas that are in the interest of all these communities," Murgu¿a said in an interview.

"We want to see more civic engagement and more advocacy at the community level, so we can have more leadership and help communities navigate the systems on behalf of themselves."