The eleventh annual Immigrant Welcome Awards will be held at the Urbana Free Library this Sunday.
Six awards will be presented to honor people and businesses that are working to make Champaign County a welcoming space for immigrants.
Ricardo Diaz serves on the board of the CU Immigration Forum, which is the main sponsor of the ceremony.
The organization created the awards to help people learn and celebrate those who make our community welcoming, he said.
“It became part of our preparation to figure out who’s doing great work, how to recognize it and to see who is venturing into this space because they need reinforcements,” Diaz said.
The event has 11 cosponsors, including The Immigration Project, The Refugee Center and Bend the Arc Jewish Action of Champaign-Urbana.
This year’s award recipients are:
- BR Bikes and Repairs – Business Leadership Award
- The Urbana Free Library – Community Impact Award
- Helen Zhang – Immigrant Leadership Award
- Erika Daniela Vergara – Emergent Leader Award
- Jazmin Olivas – Student Leadership Award
- Gioconda Guerra Perez – The Claire Szoke Distinguished Service Award
In addition to his position on the board, Diaz also helps facilitate conversations that take place to select the winners.
Diaz said the process helps him learn about emerging leaders in the area, like this year’s Student Leadership Award winner, Jazmin Olivas.
“Even though she’s been in The Immigration Project and I used to serve on their board, we never had an overlap. But I quickly realized that she has also worked with others because other people had a story to tell about her,” Diaz said. “So it was very easy to choose her.”
Olivas, a senior at the University of Illinois, started as an intern at The Immigration Project last year.
Olivas said she applied for the internship because she wanted a job to help her with expenses. She later found out the role was unpaid, but said that did not deter her from the work.
“I was really won over when I was interviewed about their mission and the things they do and the reason they do everything they do. I just really wanted to give back to the Champaign- Urbana community,” she said.
Olivas said both of her parents are from Mexico and taught her to speak Spanish at a young age. She said she also wanted to use her Spanish language skills for a good cause.
After working as an intern for almost a year, Olivas became a case manager at The Immigration Project this summer.
In her new role, Olivas said she helps clients apply for financial assistance, screen them for asylum and take care of all the beginning steps before they meet with an attorney.
Olivas said this role has allowed her to learn valuable skills.
“I had to learn how to talk about American law in Spanish and explain it to people who have no idea how our government or how our court system works,” Olivas said. “So that’s a big thing I’ll be taking with me, especially if I become an attorney myself.”
Olivas said she is honored to be recognized by people in the community who have years of experience in immigration and law.
“For them to see some kind of spark in me is really fulfilling and it just feels really awesome,” Olivas said.