Teresa Rodriguez, the award winning journalist and host of UNIVISION’s “Aqui y Ahora” will serve as the mistress of ceremonies, and Pedro Biaggi, host of “Pedro Biaggi en la Mañana on Radio El Zol will serve as the Master of Ceremonies for the 2009 Latino Inaugural Celebration that will held on January 19 at the Hall of the Americas of the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C. at 7:30 pm.

In addition, the award winning and Grammy-nominated group Dark Latin Groove, will perform. The music line up will also include DJ El Gallo Claudio and DJ Maestro. 

The celebration will also feature local and national political officials, business leaders, Latin-American dignitaries, and community organizers to honor the Latino community’s historic grassroots participation in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. 

Guests invited include The Honorable Congresswoman from California and Nominee for Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, The Honorable U.S. Senator from Colorado and Nominee for Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, The Honorable Mayor from Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa, and the Secretary General of the Organization of American States Jose Miguel Insulza. Members of our Honorary Host Committee that will be joining us will include the former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros, Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of NALEO, and Geraldo Rivera. 

“In 2008, Latinos played an invaluable role in electing Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America. The Latino community across the country was an integral part of the massive grassroots movement that changed the course of our nation’s history,” stated the Casa Blanca Project, an initiative of the Democratic National Committee’s Hispanic Caucus that is dedicated to facilitating the entry process for Latinos into the field of American presidential politics. “We witnessed that approximately 10 million U.S. Hispanics participated in this historic election by turning out to vote. Out of those votes, President-Elect Obama captured the support of 67 percent of the U.S. Hispanic vote.” 

The evening’s program will also include an awards ceremony that will honor the astounding service and volunteerism of grassroots leaders and organizations during the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign.  Awards will be given for local grassroots leadership, local community organizing, and national grassroots initiatives. 

The Latino Inaugural Celebration Committee is a collaborative of the Casa Blanca Project, the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute, and Latinas Unidas for Obama, and grassroots activists, community organizers, nonprofit organizations, and others based in the Washington Metropolitan Area.

 Tickets are $125 each and can be purchased at www.latinogala.com

We appreciate the support of our corporate sponsors, which include the Coca-Cola Company, Verizon Wireless, Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology (LISTA), Capital Wire PR, Aldana & Associates, Solomons Island, Wines, Rums of Puerto Rico, Honest Tea, and Macchu Pisco. Sponsorship opportunities are still available and can be found on the event website.

 

CONTACT:
Roxana Olivas: (240) 418-1925
Beatriz Perez-Gomez: (202) 249-2353