La Casa De Amistad honors three local Latino leaders for their impact in the community

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The City of South Bend is celebrating Hispanic Heritage month tonight at La Casa De Amistad, where three local Latino leaders were honored for the impact they've made in the community.

Susana Lagunas is a South Bend Family Nurse Practitioner, who's dedicated her career to caring for our underserved communities.

Ricardo Parra is credited with helping organize a new Midwest chapter of the National Council of 'La Raza', a political advocacy group.

Amada Salazar is a caseworker for the Truancy Prevention Program at the Casie Center, who's spent years advocating for bilingual families.

CEO of La Casa De Amistad, Juan Constantino, says the team at La Casa chose these three individuals because of their work behind the scenes that has helped to advance the Latino community in South Bend.

"The reality is we have so many unsung heroes in our community, in our Latino and Hispanic community that have been here a long time. Folks that have been doing work in our schools, our healthy industry, and our clinics advocating for policies for immigrant rights, and some of those folks have gone by the wayside and have not been celebrated or honored enough," stated Constantino.

Constantino says that next year they will be opening it up to a public nomination process, so the public will be invited to nominate anyone in the local Latino community that they believe should be recognized for their important work.