The Center for Community Advocacy’s 29th annual “Dia de Los Muertos” tardeada (afternoon party) and awards ceremony will take place Nov. 4 in CSU-Monterey Bay’s Otter Student Union Ballroom.
The event will honor the 2022 recipients of CCA’s Ben Heller Award, retired State Sen. Bill Monning and Dr. Dana Kent, M.D., and Volunteer Hero Award, journalist Hugo Morales of Radio Bilingue, known among the farmworker community for broadcasting important public affairs.
Hugo Morales
CCA bestows the awards annually to those who have shown courage, leadership and a strong commitment to the farmworker community.
CCA will honor Monning’s efforts to create safe and equitable work environments for agricultural workers. Senate Bill No. 1087 protects farmworkers and creates a safe work environment and Senate Bill No. 168 gave farmworkers the ability to get back the wages they were entitled to.
CCA will honor Dr. Kent for improving the health conditions of all patients, including the farmworker community.
The Sam Karas Farmworker Leadership Award will go to Emmy-winning NBC Bay Area News reporter, host and producer Damian Trujillo, who will serve as event emcee.
A Greenfield native, Trujillo worked with his family in the agricultural fields of the Salinas Valley, picking garlic, broccoli, cucumbers and strawberries.
Dr. Dana Kent, M.D., with State Sen. Bill Monning
Each year on March 31, Trujillo celebrates Cesar Chavez Day by honoring the birth and legacy of the late civil rights and labor movement activist by feeding farmworkers.
Family, friends and students gather to make sack lunches to distribute to 250 farmworkers as a thank you for their tireless work. Each year the Trujillo family awards a college scholarship to the son or daughter of a farmworker in Greenfield.
Trujillo’s life is depicted in the 2012 half-hour documentary “From the Fields: An American Journey.”
CCA has much to celebrate, including completing yet another year of training farmworkers in leadership roles that enable them to negotiate with their landlords for improvements in their housing units.
Those same skills have empowered these farmworker leaders to become purveyors of preventive health information at their housing sites and teach farmworker parents to read in Spanish.