2 Latino groups donate 10,000 to Latino student scholarships

Due to the success of the inaugural “Joliet Latino Music and Food Festival,” the Joliet Latino Economic Development Association and Unidos Marketing Network recently donated $10,000 to support the education of Joliet-area Latino students, according to a news release from the two organizations.

The donation was made to the Dr. Daniel Gutierrez Scholarship fund, which is administered by the Hispanic Latino Coalition of Will County and Grundy County, according to the release.

More than 3,000 people enjoyed an evening of food and music at the festival, which kicked off Hispanic Heritage Month and Mexican Independence.

Cesar Cardenas, founder of Unidos Marketing Network, said in the release that as a former HLC board member and current Silver Cross Healthy Community Commission board member, he understand the “deep the impact of these scholarship dollars” for the students.

Alex Páramo, president and co-founder of LEDA and a recipient of the HLC scholarship in 2014, said he’s proud to support HLC’s mission.

“I know it was my responsibility to pay it back and I’m excited to see this fund grow many times over,” Páramo said in the release.

Alejandro Campos, president of the HLC, feels the same way about LEDA and thanked the organization for its donation.

“It is amazing to see past scholarship recipients being such positive role models and leaders within our community,” Campos said in the release. “We look forward to working with LEDA on other advocacy projects within our community.”

Páramo said the organizations already are looking for other ways to support Latino education.

“We are already in conversations with the state of Illinois to take our commitment one step further and leverage their 529 College Savings Plans to introduce the idea of long-term investing to our Latino community,” Páramo said in the release. “The 2021 State of Hispanic Wealth Report revealed that only 4.3 % of Latinos own stock, and even less are invested in bonds and pooled investments. By introducing investing principles early on, in middle school or earlier and engaging the families, we have the opportunity to change the trajectory of wealth for generations to come.”

For information, go to jolietleda.org, unidosmarketing.com and hlcwillcounty.org.