On November 7, UT Austin’s hosted its ninth annual Community Leadership Awards at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center.  UT Austin President Gregory L. Fenves and Vice President Gregory J. Vincent presented five awards in total. CLA honorrees included:

Special Recognition: The Honorable John Treviño Jr
John served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and was later selected as the first director of the Austin Community Action Program, a federal antipoverty initiative. In 1975, he became the first Hispanic elected to the Austin City Council. He served for more than 13 years, eventually becoming mayor pro tem and acting mayor. At UT Austin, John recently retired after spending years helping to develop programs for historically underutilized businesses.

Community Partnership Award: Young Hispanic Professional Association of Austin
Founded in 2006, YHPAA provides leadership and professional development opportunities for young Latino professionals withih the Greater Austin community. YHPAA supports and encourages higher education through scholarships and mentorship programs and has served more than 10,000 young Hispanic leaders in Austin.

Community Leadership Ciricle Award: Josefina Villicaña Casati
Josefina is the editor of ¡ahora sí!, Austin’s nationally recognized Spanish language weekly, and ahorasi.com, produced in association with the Austin American-Statesman. Since 1998 Josefina has made various contributions at the Statesman that includes community information coordinator, director of information services, system administrator/content producer of statesman.com, reporter and since 2006, editor.

Community Emerging Legacy Award: Mark L. Madrid
Mark L. Madrid is president and CEO of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (GAHCC). The GAHCC mission is to build its members’ personal, business, educational and financial wealth. Under his leadership, in 2015, the GAHCC was named the nation’s top Hispanic chamber.

The Joe R. Long and Teresa Lozano Long Legacy Award: The Limón Family
Limón Family members are involved in just about every aspect of Austin life — business, civic engagement, politics, education and community service. The Limón family’s modern story began with Jose and Bernave Limón, who left Mexico for Austin in 1889. Five generations later, the family tree now spreads over 42 pages and includes more than 3,600 members.

In his remarks at the event, speaking to both this year’s awardees as well as those gathered in attendance Dr. Vincent said, “Your support and dedication is what drives us to do our very best. I am proud to call all of you members of our DDCE family. Thank you for all that each of you do in support of our work to serve our local Austin community and the state of Texas.”