AURORA–The city will once again send gifts to Aurora residents in active military service who are stationed in the United States or overseas. Service personnel will receive a one-pound box of mixed nuts and a card in time for the holidays. The mixed nuts are provided by the Kiwanis Club of Aurora.

 “Our service men and women have chosen to unselfishly give of their time, and in some cases, risk their lives, for our country,” said Mayor Tom Weisner. “We want each of them to know how much we appreciate their service.”

Names and mailing addresses of Aurora citizens in active service may be phoned in to the Mayor’s Office of Special Events at 630-844-4731 weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or e-mailed to syoung@aurora-il.org.

The deadline for submitting names is Friday, Nov. 13.

Northern Illinois Tejano Cultural Society (NITCS) Scholarship sponsored by 83rd District State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia

Join the NITCS on October 24, 2009 as we present the 2009-2010 NITCS Scholarship Recipients. This event will be held at La Sierra De Aurora located at 2121 East New York Street; Aurora, IL 60505. The dinner is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with scholarship presentations and tejano dance to follow thereafter. Tejano Entertainment will be presented by Tejano Express and local DJ’s.

2009-10 NITCS Members will receive the discounted rate of $25 per person. Non Members cost will be $30 per person. Tables of ten can be reserved with a prepayment of $250. For additional event information, please contact Sarah Escareno at 630 361-4053. For additional membership information, please e-mail Ruby at Rubye2k@aol.com 

AURORA, Ill. — Aurora University’s Vernon Haase Speaker Series will present “My Name Is: Networking & Power” by Carlos Ojeda, Jr., at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 7, in Crimi Auditorium in the Institute for Collaboration at 407 S. Calumet Ave. in Aurora.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

Ojeda, a professional motivational speaker with business background, will discuss developing career management skills in networking, power communication, and professional etiquette to launch and maintain successful careers. 

Additionally, he will offer strategies for success in business and how to think proactively about professional success. 

College students and area youth will learn first-hand strategies that contribute to success in the professional world. 

“Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders in business, government, education, health care and non-profit sectors,” Ojeda said. “We discuss how to build skills today to prepare for a bright future!”

Ojeda is nationally recognized for his dynamism and appeal to younger audiences. He seeks to empower young people across the country as they build and frame their thinking about what it means to be a career professional in the 21st century.

About the Speaker

The son of immigrant parents, Ojeda has become one of the most dynamic speakers under 30 in America today.

His story began on the streets of Newark, N.J., and continued in Reading, Pa., where his parents saw opportunities for themselves and their children.

As a youth, attending school proved difficult for Ojeda. Not understanding his social, economic and cultural background, many of his high school teachers told him he would never amount to anything.

Yet his drive, passion and dreams led him to overcome obstacles and pursue a career of lifelong learning and educational success as the first person in his family to graduate from college with honors.

He reminds youth to “never, ever, ever let anyone tell you who you are or what you will become. That’s your destiny to fulfill, no one else’s.”

Ojeda received his bachelor’s degree in business management from Bloomsburg University and his M.B.A. from Kutztown University, both in Pennsylvania.

Call (630) 844-6259 for more information.

The Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board with Heartland Blood Center is hosting a Blood Drive 

East Aurora High School

September 26^th, 2009

10:00a.m. – 2:00p.m. 

Please schedule your appointment on-line right now

http://iwebb.heartlandbc.org/pls/iwebb/adrv?pdz=75038&pdr=DRV2009264 

Contact Mary Garza 

cell:  630/688-2022

e-mail: bestgarza@hotmail.com 

Some facts: 

*        More than half of all Hispanics may carry what is known as the universal blood type, O negative, according to research by the University of Texas at Galveston.  

*        Less than 6% of Hispanics who are eligible to donate actually do. 

*        From Jan 09 thru Aug 09 Heartland Blood Centers reported 13% of the total number of blood donors who donated during that time have been Hispanic.  

*        45% of people in the U.S. have type O (+/-) blood.  Type O+ blood is the most common, most frequently used blood type. Type O- blood is the universal donor, since most anyone can accept it for a transfusion regardless of their blood type. These types are the first to run out during a blood shortage. 

*        Recipients of blood donations include trauma victims, diabetics, premature infants and cancer patients.

Why are Hispanic blood donors needed? 

*        57% of the Hispanic population has type O (+/-) blood.

*        Though compatibility is not based on race, genetically similar blood is best for those who need repeated or large volumes of blood transfusions for various diseases and conditions as well as emergency treatments and surgeries.

*        Blood that closely matches a patient’s ethnicity is less likely to be rejected by the patient and provides fewer risks for complications. 

Now that you have some facts, please click on the link to schedule an appointment.  This cause is so vitally important as it not only impacts our Latino families but as it extends through the entire Aurora Community.  Thank you so much for your generosity and commitment to blood donation.

Lockport native and U.S. Army Air Force Staff Sergeant Joe Belman will be honored by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s office in a military medals award ceremony at the Joliet Junior College (JJC) Main Campus, 1215 Houbolt Road in Joliet on Sept. 9.

Belman, 85, a World War II veteran, never received certain medals he earned during 35 combat missions as a ball turret gunner for the 8th Air Force – 305th Bomb Group. Belman’s story was also recently recorded by the JJC Media Services Office as part of the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. A segment of this video will be shown at the ceremony.

The ceremony, which is open to the public, begins in the Main Campus Fine Arts Theatre at 9:30 a.m. and is sponsored by the JJC Office of the President and the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs.

For more information, contact Sal Valadez at (815) 280-2829.

Date: Tuesday September 15th, 2009

Time: 7:00AM to 9:00AM

Place: Long Island Sound

           1920 E New York St.
           Aurora, IL 60505

Cost: FREE, but need RSVP

First come-first served.

The Aurora Hispanic Pioneers Breakfast recognizes the achievements of the City’s Hispanics and chronicles their influence in shaping Aurora’s history.

• The inaugural event followed the migration of the first Hispanics to Aurora and the historical significance of the Eola Boxcar Camp.
• In 2006, the Breakfast honored Hispanics who risked their lives on the battlefield and Hispanic fallen heroes.
• In 2007, Aurora’s Hispanic men and women who paved the way for those who serve in public safety, commanded center stage.
• Last year, we honored the first businesses and organizations that established in Aurora before 1980 and influenced Aurora’s progress.

This year, Aurora Alderman Juany Garza and Aurora Hispanics Pioneers Committee invite you to honor the achievements of the first teachers in Aurora.

Please RSVP by September 7^th at NOON by replying to this e-mail: aurorapioneers@yahoo.com

First come-first served.

We hope to see on September 15^TH!

Aurora Alderman Juany Garza & 2009 Hispanics Pioneers Committee:

• Socorro Campos
• Maria Alice Diaz
• Martin Falcon
• Penny Falcon
• Alderman Juany Garza
• Cindy Hernandez
• Maria Velasquez
• Maria Wilkbanks
• Clovis Wilkbanks
• Gabriela Wyatt

“Friends of Linda Chapa LaVia”, City of Aurora 2nd Ward Alderman Juany Garza and featured speaker Aurora Mayor Thomas Weisner just a few of the many working together through education to put at-risk youth on the path to success

AURORA, Ill. (Aug. 12, 2008) – For many Hispanics in Aurora and Chicago’s surrounding communities, the wait is over. Author Robert Renteria will unveil the Spanish edition of his memoir, “Desde el Barrio Al Exito,” translated by Ayten Santillan and edited by Leticia Gomez, at the “From the Barrio” Spanish Book Release Fiesta at La Quinta de Los Reyes on Wednesday, Aug. 26 from 5:30 – 10:30 p.m.

For more than a year, educators, social workers, law enforcement officers, and others who work together to change the lives of at-risk youth, have requested that Renteria’s sought-after memoir, “From the Barrio to the Board Room,” be translated into Spanish.

The celebration includes a special appearance by CHILL, with a Live Poetic Rap performance at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. plus a DJ entertaining from 5:30 – 10:30 p.m. The Fiesta includes appetizers, dessert pastries, and soft drinks. Proceeds from the evening’s silent auction will go toward purchasing books for programs, school and organizations that may be underfunded and unable to afford them.

Sponsored in part by “Friends of Linda Chapa LaVia”, City of Aurora’s 2nd Ward Alderman Juany Garza, Midwest Laundries and Chris Childress, founder of Progressive Energy, the Fiesta will not only celebrate the release of the Spanish edition, but also raise money for education. Aurora Mayor Thomas Weisner recognized the power of the Barrio book, speaking at the book’s initial launch in April 2008. He has chosen to speak again on behalf of teens and at-risk youth at the Fiesta as well.

Emcees, Dick and Arlene Hawks are well known community leaders, dedicated to programs that encourage positive life choices by our youth so they can realize their full potential.

“Desde el Barrio Al Exito” is the next step in a passionate mission for Renteria and Corey Blake, co-author of the English edition and chief executive officer of the From the Barrio Foundation. “The book is a tool and Robert Renteria is a resource who promotes education, a sense of pride and accomplishment, and self-esteem within the youth of our communities.”

The Foundation currently offers a free curriculum, developed by teachers, community leaders and advisors. This fall, upwards of 3,000 Chicago city students will discover through the new curriculum that hard work, dedication and education are the secrets to success.

Tickets to the Fiesta are $20/person and are available online or at the door. La Quinta de Los Reyes is located at 36 East New York Street, Aurora.

Says Renteria, “We have a chance to be champions and leaders of this place 1st, this place we call home. To take care of our families, our neighbors, our communities, our great city and then beyond. We have to step up and be the leaders we say we are. The kids have spoken, and now is our chance to pony up at the table and be part of the solution. Many say it’s all about the kids. Let’s take action and do what’s right. Our youth need to know they have choices!”

Step up to the table by clicking here.

If you cannot attend, you can still purchase tickets online to help put books in the hands of our youth.

Hear Robert speak at last year’s Book launch of the English version of “From the Barrio to the Board Room.”

To learn more about From The Barrio Foundation, the book and its curriculum or to read more about Renteria’s story, please contact Renteria at 312.933.5619 or visit www.fromthebarrio.com.

Aurora residents can “invent the future” with GO TO 2040 workshop and web tools

Create, compare and share your scenarios of how the region might plan to look in decades to come

Aurora, ILLINOIS, August 20, 2009 — Ever wonder how northeastern Illinois might look decades from now?

Aurora residents can help “invent the future” on Tuesday, September 1, 2009, in a GO TO 2040 workshop to be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Prisco Community Center, 150 W. Illinois Ave, Room #114, Aurora. Advance registration is appreciated — please contact Joey-Lin Silberhorn at 312-386-8814 or jsilberhorn@cmap.illinois.gov.

The event, which is offered in English and Spanish, is organized by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) in partnership with State Representative Linda Chapa La Via, Aurora Alderman Juany Garza (Ward 2), the Fox River Ecosystem Partnership (FREP), the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board, and Kane County.

Click here to see a video preview of a GO TO 2040 Invent the Future workshop.

CMAP is developing GO TO 2040, the seven-county region’s official comprehensive plan. GO TO 2040 addresses land use, transportation, and other quality-of-life issues such as the environment, economic development, housing, education, health care, and other social services.

Also, through the first week of September, residents can weigh in at www.goto2040.org, where they can use fun, interactive tools to create, share, and compare their own future scenarios.

“We are excited to invite residents from throughout northeastern Illinois to have their say in planning the future of our region,” said Randy Blankenhorn, CMAP executive director. “With interactive activities that are engaging and compelling, residents are now able to imagine their future and explore how choices today will impact the lives of generations to come, just as Daniel Burnham did 100 years ago.”

By engaging residents in GO TO 2040, CMAP will collect public opinions that the agency will use in developing a “preferred scenario” by the end of 2009. Over the winter, CMAP will flesh out the scenario by identifying major capital projects that require investment. In the spring of 2010, CMAP will communicate a draft of the full plan to its partners and the public, with adoption of a final plan in the fall of 2010.

La Federación Jalisciense del Medio Oeste, El Club Tecalitlan y Concejal Juany Garza lo invita a celebrar Semana Jalisco 2009.

Disfrute una tarde familiar: ¡Musica, diversión y mucho mas…Toda Gratuito!

Dia:    Miércoles 2 de septiembre 2009

Hora:  4:00 a 7:00 de la tarde

Lugar: McCarty Park

Click on the link below to schedule an appointment: http://iwebb.heartlandbc.org/pls/iwebb/adrv?pdz=75038&pdr=DRV2009264