Legacy Award

María Eraña

María has roots in both California and Mexico’s Huasteca region. She has deep experience developing effective and relatable programming for Latino audiences, working on both sides of the border as a journalist and editor. María believes in the need of having strong, Latin@/Indigenous-owned community media outlets, as a much- needed alternative to corporate media. This led her to her decades-long work with Radio Bilingüe, the largest producer of Spanish-language public radio content in the
United States. 

At RB, she had roles as border correspondent, news producer and eventually, director of network operations. During her tenure as Operations Director, María developed and supervised numerous educational campaigns on a variety of topics and helped expand RB’s network from 4 stations in California to 25 across the Southwest. Along the way she trained dozens of young staff members, volunteer programmers and youths from Fresno’s barrios who wanted to learn about media production and develop their leadership skills. Before her work in media, María did advocacy work in the San Diego-Tijuana region, assisting migrants who had been abused by law-enforcement officers and vigilantes at the border. This work connected her with activists and artists on both sides of the border and led to her collaboration, in the early 90’s, in organizing several public art projects on both sides of the border, countering anti-immigrant rhetoric. María now lives in Fresno with her daughter and grandchildren.

Sí Se Puede Award

Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee is a forceful and progressive voice in Congress, dedicated to social and economic justice, international peace, and civil and human rights.

First elected in 1998 to represent California’s 9th Congressional District, the Democratic lawmaker has a reputation for principled and independent stands, unafraid to take on the tough issues and speak her mind for her constituents, for a more just America, and for a safer world. A social worker by profession, she has been a life-long advocate for constituents, families and others accessing government services.

Congresswoman Lee has been a strong proponent of safe communities, addressing hunger, environmental justice, universal health care, just immigration policies, the establishment of a living wage, reproductive health care rights and affordable housing, including creation of a National Housing Trust Fund.

Her accomplishments include authoring or co-authoring every major piece of legislation dealing with global HIV/AIDS issues since she was elected to Congress.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the congresswoman was the lone vote against a
resolution that gave the President virtually unlimited authority to use force against unspecified organizations, individuals or nations for an unlimited period of time. She has consistently fought to stop endless wars and to reduce conditions that produce conflict and injustice.

Congresswoman Lee is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and Chair of the subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations. She serves as Co-Chair of the Steering and Policy Committee, former Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Chair Emeritus of the Progressive Caucus, Co-Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Health Task Force, and Co-Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus. She also serves as Chair of the Majority Leader’s Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity. As a member of the House Democratic Leadership, she is the highest ranking African American woman in the U.S. Congress.