WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, UnidosUS –the largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the country– named Greisa Martínez Rosas, Executive Director of United We Dream, the recipient of the Graciela Olivarez La Raza Award, UnidosUS’ highest honors recognizing individuals whose courage, leadership, and service have advanced the rights of Latino communities across the United States.
Named after pioneering attorney and civil rights leader Graciela Olivarez—the first Latina graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School—the award recognizes Greisa’s leadership in advancing one of the country’s most influential immigrant youth movements. Greisa has championed the indispensable role Latinos, immigrants and working people play in strengthening America’s economy and communities and has organized millions of young people nationwide to defend programs like DACA and advance the fight to pass citizenship.
“The Graciela Olivarez La Raza Award recognizes leaders whose courage, vision and lifelong commitment have advanced justice and expanded opportunity for our community, and Greisa Martínez Rosas embodies that legacy in every sense,” said Janet Murguía, President and CEO of UnidosUS. “From arriving in the United States as a young undocumented immigrant to leading the nation’s largest youth-led immigrant rights network, Greisa has turned her lived experience into a movement that has empowered millions. Together, we have fought to implement and protect DACA, and we are not done. Millions of Dreamers are contributing to this country every single day, and they deserve a path to citizenship. We are honored to recognize Greisa with this award.”
“Receiving an award that bears Graciela Olivarez’s name is a profound honor that I do not carry lightly,” said Greisa Martínez Rosas, Executive Director of United We Dream. “I’m especially grateful to accept it alongside the young, courageous leaders of United We Dream who remind us that real change is driven by young people everyday: those who choose to organize within their communities in the face of fear, lead on their college campuses despite uncertainty, and refuse to leave anyone behind.
We are living in a moment when our most fundamental freedoms are under attack. Latinos and immigrants are an essential part of working America who helped build this country. And we will not let our sweat, our hands, and our labor be erased from this country’s story. Moments like this are when we cannot afford to forget the responsibility titans like Graciela left to us. Our leadership will be remembered not only by how we defended the freedoms we’ve fought so hard to win, but by how we organized to build an America where all working people, including immigrants, can share in the prosperity and live with dignity.”
