Editor’s note: Amigos805 is presenting a regular profile of the winners of El Concilio Family Services’ 2011 Latino Leadership Awards, to be presented March 26 in Oxnard. The awards this year focus on educators who make a difference in the community.
Alex Rivera of Ventura College has mentored students, recruited and trained Latino community leaders to serve as mentors and encouraged students to stay in school to pursue a college education.
He is active in the Oxnard College mentor program (Puente), the Ventura College Math Engineering Science Achievement program (MESA), and the Workforce Investment Board of Ventura County (WIB). He is a charter donor to the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Destino 2000 Hispanic Legacy Fund.
Rivera was born and raised in Upland, earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Claremont Men’s College and his MBA from California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. He moved to Ventura County in 1989 and lives in Camarillo with his wife, Linda.
Besides Rivera, the award winners being honored this year include Elmelda P. Almanza, retired from the Oxnard School District; Javier Gomez, founder of the Inlakech Cultural Arts Center in Oxnard; Carmen Guerrero, dean of Career & Technical Education at Oxnard College; Ventura County Community College Trustee Art Hernandez; Fundi Legohn, an educator, musician composer/arranger and the performing arts director at Oxnard High School; Joseph M. Medina of CSU Northridge; Lupe Murillo of Pacifica High School in Oxnard; and Pilar Pacheco of California State University, Channel Islands;
El Concilio Family Services’ annual Latino Leadership Awards gala dinner will begin with a social hour at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner program at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 26 at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, 800 Hobson Way, Oxnard.
For more information, call 805.486.9777 or send an e-mail to events@elconcilioventura.org or visit www.elconcilioventura.org