SAN JOSE, Calif., April 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mexican Heritage Corporation (MHC) announced today that Linda Ronstadt, the multi-Grammy award winning artist and the Artistic Director of San Jose's Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival was named the 2009 Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Silicon Valley venture capital association Hispanic-Net. Ms. Ronstadt will be honored at a dinner at the Stanford Faculty club the evening of April 11. Hispanic-Net will also honor Latino entrepreneur James Gutierrez, whose company Progreso Financiero delivers financial services to Hispanic families that lack established credit scores and banking relationships. Aida Alvarez, former head of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the first Latina to be named to a Cabinet level position, will present the award to Ms. Ronstadt. The event will also serve as a platform for the announcement of the launch of a new social venture arts enterprise by MHC and Ms. Ronstadt.

As the newest member of San Jose's arts community, Ronstadt has become increasingly engaged in local outreach, performing for pre-school students at the Gardner Elementary School and meeting with community gardeners at Mayfair Community Garden. As the Artistic Director of the San Jose Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival, she has participated as a performer, as well as an advisor to the programming and music education of the festival.

"Linda Ronstadt has given her voice and her music to the world for years. She is very interested in contributing to the community in any way she can," said Marcela Davison Aviles, President and CEO of Mexican Heritage Corporation and the producer of the 18th annual San Jose Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival. "This honor recognizes her impact not only as an artist but as a business leader, and a social venture entrepreneur who is as equally committed to the pursuit of social justice as she is to the creation of beauty and preserving our cultural heritage."

"Fewer than 1% of philanthropic dollars go to the types non-profit organizations that benefit Hispanic youth in the Silicon Valley community," said Margarita Quihuis, Chairman of Hispanic-Net. "The power of Linda's presence and her passion for uplifting the Hispanic community are helping our organization create viable and sustainable programs. We are proud to recognize a woman who is doing so much to inspire the next generation of Silicon Valley business and community leaders."

About the Mexican Heritage Corporation

The Mexican Heritage Corporation of San Jose exists to affirm, celebrate and preserve Mexico's rich cultural heritage and to showcase multicultural visual arts, performance arts and cultural events. MHC realizes its mission with a multi-disciplinary education and artistic program that celebrates Mexican culture and illuminates and explores the diversity within Mexico, the influence of Mexican culture on other communities worldwide and that of international and indigenous communities on the culture of Mexico, through the visual, performing and media arts. For more information visit mhcviva.org

About Hispanic-Net

Hispanic-Net is the organization where Hispanic entrepreneurs, executives, innovators and investors come together to create market leading companies. The organization is a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem comprised of executives in technology, Internet and life sciences companies, venture capitalists and angel investors, professionals in law, financial services and business from some of the top firms in Silicon Valley, Boston, San Diego and Latin America such as Cisco Systems, AMD, Adobe, Intel, Pillsbury Winthrop, Wilson Sonsini, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Ricoh Innovation and others. Visit www.hispanic-net.org for more information.

SOURCE Mexican Heritage Corporation

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RELATED LINKS
http://mhcviva.org
http://www.hispanic-net.org