Washington, DC– Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Representative Hilda Solis (D-CA) will be the honorees at the National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) 2008 Capital Awards gala. NCLR, the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., will hold its 21st Annual Gala at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW in Washington, DC on Tuesday, March 4 beginning at 5:30 p.m.

NCLR, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, is honoring Representative Diaz-Balart and Representative Solis for their leadership on issues of concern to the Hispanic community. NCLR will also present the Public Service Award to Univision Communications, Inc.

“Representative Diaz-Balart is a longstanding champion of the ‘Legal Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act.’” He was among the first members of Congress to step forward and demand fairness for hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants who lost access to public health and other services in 1996 as a result of welfare reform,” said Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO. “He has demonstrated extraordinary courage and has emerged as one of our community’s strongest leaders.”

“As chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Health Task Force, Representative Solis has demonstrated critical leadership in eliminating health disparities for Latinos,” added Murguía. “She also has a strong commitment to educating low-income and Latino children and has sponsored legislation which would provide minority communities with high-quality dual-language education programs.”

Murguía continued, “Univision has been an important partner of NCLR’s in the ya es hora campaign, mobilizing thousands of eligible Latinos to become U.S. citizens and encouraging the civic participation of many more. We applaud Univision for its contributions as it continues to promote naturalization and voter engagement efforts that inspire so many to participate in the democratic process.”

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