Los Angeles – The Tides Foundation has awarded Angelica Salas, CHIRLA Executive Director, with the Jane Bagley Lehnman Award for Excellence In Public Advocacy. The recognition goes to activists dedicated to advancing immigration reform. Ms. Salas and two additional honorees, José Artemio Arreola and Salvador Reza, will be recognized on Monday, September 7, 2007 in San Francisco.

“I am honored to be recognized alongside Artemio and Salvador, two individuals I work with and respect,” stated Ms. Salas. “I am an immigrant from Mexico with immigrant parents. Having lived in this country without documents and then having a chance to legalize my status, I know that lives can be transformed for the better with a serious overhaul to our immigration laws.”

Tides' JBL Awards honor policy activists and advocates by recognizing work that demonstrates innovative approaches to social change and a deep commitment to the public interest. The honorees will be present for the Tides.' Momentum 2009 Leadership Conference at the W Hotel in San Francisco on September 7. Each of them will receive a cash award of $7,500 for their personal use.
 

Ms. Salas will donate her monetary award to CHIRLA’s student programs. “I am donating those funds to CHIRLA’s Wise Up! project to help provide scholarships for immigrant students so that they can finish high school and go to college. We are also starting up the California DREAM Scholarship and I hope others will be encouraged to go to our website and contribute to the future of California and this nation.”

In addition to being CHIRLA’s executive director, Angelica Salas is a founding member of the Fair Immigrant Rights Movement and a member of the management team with the 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. She is the daughter of immigrant parents of Mexican origin.

José Artemio Arreola is a community leader and labor activist in Chicago Illinois. He is the founder of the Federation of Michoacan’s Clubs in Illinois and of Casa Michoacán. Salvador Reza is the coordinator of Tonatierra Macehualli Day Labor Project in Arizona. He teaches ESL classes at Tonatierra and is a weekly columnist for Prensa Hispana.

The JBL Awards are named after Jane Bagley Lehman, a founder of Tides and Chair of the Tides Board until her death in 1988. This is the 19th year the awards have been given by the Tides Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1976 to actively promote change toward broadly shared economic opportunity, robust democratic processes and the opportunity to live in a healthy and sustainable environment where human rights are preserved and protected.

For more info: Please visit the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) web site.