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2009 JBL Awards recipients have tirelessly advocated and organized for comprehensive immigration reform, worked to counter anti-immigrant policies and groups, and helped grassroots voices shape and influence the immigration debate at the national level. They are being honored with awards of $7,500 each on Monday, September 7 at Tides' Momentum 2009 Leadership Conference at the W Hotel in San Francisco.
| Jose Artemio Arreola A community leader and labor activist, Arreola currently manages the "Reform Immigration for America" campaign in Illinois and is Political Director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. A founders of the Federation of Michoacán's Clubs in Illinois, and of Casa Michoacán, he was also the co-founder and main organizer of the March 10th Movement that brought more than 500,000 people to the streets of Chicago for the historic immigration demonstration and he supported efforts to organize the largest immigration rally in Los Angeles's history on March 25, 2006. Arreola also helped to re-establish May Day as a workers day by organizing marches in more than 100 cities across the U.S and, as a union labor activist at Service Employees International Union (SEIU), has participated in numerous labor contracts negotiations. |
| Salvador Reza Coordinator of Tonatierra Macehualli Day Labor Project, Reza works closely with migratory workers and their families on the human rights issues of employment, entrepreneurship and education. Working with the National Day Labor Organizing Project, Reza was instrumental in bringing about the investigation of human rights violations committed by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his deputies. The campaign culminated in a congressional hearing and an ongoing investigation by the Justice Department on racial profiling and civil rights violations by Sheriff Arpaio. Reza presented testimony on the abuses to the UN Committee to Eliminate Racial Discrimination in Geneva in 2008 and also helped found Centro Macehualli, a nationally recognized day labor center managed by the laborers. He also supported taco venders in Phoenix to create Union Pochteca and negotiate sucsessfully with the city to protect their right to work. Reza teaches ESL classes at Tonatierra and is a weekly columnist for Prensa Hispana. He has received numerous local and national commendations including the Ford Foundation Leadership for a Changing World Award. |
| Angelica Salas Angelica Salas is the executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), a membership organization of immigrant rights organizations, low wage immigrant workers and immigrant youth. She is a national leader fighting for legalization with a path to citizenship, family reunification, and the protection of civil and labor rights. She is also a founding member of the Fair Immigrant Rights Movement and Reform Immigration for America Campaign. She has played a leadership role in the formation of statewide and local multi-sector coalitions working on immigration issues and workers rights. Among her accomplishments, Angelica helped win in-state tuition for undocumented immigrant students and established day laborer job centers that have served as a model for the entire country. She also led the effort to allow all California drivers to obtain licenses and is a leading spokesperson on federal immigration policy. Salas was also a speaker at Tides' Momentum 2008 Conference and the video of her presentation, can be viewed at: www.momentumconference.org/speaker-presentation/speaker/angelica-salas/presentation/fighting-for-immigration-reform. |
