Meet Hispanic Heritage Month Local Hero Robert Rivas

Sept. 15, 2016

KPBS Local Heroes Project

Robert Rivas aims to make the choice easy for young Latinos: college or prison. He's started a San Diego organization committed to a strong Latino future.

Meet Hispanic Heritage Month Local Hero Patricia Rincon

Sept. 15, 2016

KPBS Local Heroes Project

She's on ballet stages and in tribal villages. And her hunger for great performance is boundless. She's Patricia Rincon, KPBS' new Local Hero.

Hispanic Heritage Month Local Hero Enrique Morones — Titan At The Border

Hispanic Heritage Month 2015 Honoree

Sept. 15, 2015

KPBS Local Heroes Project

Free legal consultations for deported immigrants on the border. This is just one of the dozens of ideas engineered by human rights activist, Enrique Morones.

Hispanic Heritage Month Local Hero Karemi Alvarez Champions Health

Hispanic Heritage Month 2015 Honoree

Sept. 15, 2015

KPBS Local Heroes Project

Students finally got clean drinking water at San Diego's Sweetwater High School. That's thanks to Karemi Alvarez — a rising voice for healthy lifestyles in needy communities.

Local Hero Myra Curiel Helps Aging Out Foster Youth with Move-in Kits

Hispanic Heritage Month 2014 Honoree

Sept. 15, 2014

By Monica Medina

When Myra Curiel aged out of the foster care system and enrolled in Casa de Amparo’s New Directions transitional housing program in Oceanside, she received a welcome basket.

Hispanic Heritage Month Local Hero Carmen Kcomt Advocates for Immigrant Families

Hispanic Heritage Month 2014 Honoree

Sept. 12, 2014

By Monica Medina

Carmen Kcomt is filled with pride. On June 25th, this 2014 Hispanic Heritage Month Local Hero who hails from Peru, finally became a United States citizen. The journey to citizenship was filled with challenges and setbacks that included 11 years of struggling to maneuver through the system in her quest for political asylum—and spending five of those years as an undocumented immigrant.

Fabiola Navarro, Local Hero & Human Rights Activist

Hispanic Heritage Month 2013 Honoree

Sept. 13, 2013

By Monica Medina

The world is filled with injustice. All you need do is pick up a newspaper or go online and you’ll find a litany of human rights violations—victims of torture and kidnappings, people being sent to prison camps by their own government, women suffering untold abuse at the hands of their husbands or fathers while authorities look the other way, and children being forced into labor and prostitution. Here in San Diego, Chilean-born Fabiola Navarro sees fighting such human rights violations as a life-long cause.

Andrea Skorepa Advocates for San Ysidro

Hispanic Heritage Month 2013 Honoree

Sept. 13, 2013

By Monica Medina

Andrea Skorepa is a Hispanic Heritage Month Local Hero who lives and breathes San Ysidro – both as a passionate advocate, and as a life-long resident of the town by the border.

Michael A.V. Cruz Has Passion for Mentoring

Hispanic Heritage Month: 2012 Honoree

Nov. 2, 2012

By Monica Medina

Michael A. V. Cruz is not used to being thanked for the work he does. Being the humble man he is, he’s never asked for it nor expected it. Besides, he's not in it for the glory.

Danny Gutierrez Gets a Second Chance

Hispanic Heritage Month: 2012 Honoree

Sept. 13, 2012

By Monica Medina

It's hard to pinpoint the moment that propelled Danny Gutierrez's life into a spiral of self-destruction. After all, there was no singular instant that set him on a path of joining a gang, breaking the law, using drugs, and causing pain to those around him.

Rachel Ortiz

Hispanic Heritage Month: 2011 Honoree

Sept. 7, 2011

Rachel Ortiz is the founder and director of Barrio Station, a youth program that saves the lives of thousands of troubled young people by offering them alternatives to delinquency. Ms. Ortiz lives her life with a passion for justice and a commitment to youth advocacy. Ms. Ortiz is a recipient of numerous awards, including the César Chávez Humanitarian Award, California Legislature's Women of the Year and the Aztec Achievement Award.

Richard Nares

Hispanic Heritage Month: 2011 Honoree

Sept. 7, 2011

Richard Nares is the executive director of the Emilio Nares Foundation (ENF), which he founded along with his wife Diane in 2003 after losing their son Emilio to leukemia. Mr. Nares turned the tragic experience into a program that assists children fighting cancer throughout Southern California. Under his direction, the Emilio Nares Foundation serves as a resource center providing various community services including transportation, healthy meals, financial assistance and staffing for two Family Resource Centers at Rady Children’s Hospital.

Carolina Ramos

Hispanic Heritage Month: 2010 Honoree

Sept. 23, 2010

Since 2003, Carolina Alcoser Ramos has been the coordinator of Latino – Latina Services for the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center.

Gracia Molina Enriquez de Pick

Hispanic Heritage Month: 2010 Honoree

Sept. 23, 2010

For more than 60 years, Gracia Molina Enriquez de Pick has been an educator, feminist, mentor of students and community activist for women’s equality, indigenous communities, labor and immigrants’ rights.