Greenville, NC- On December 13^th, The Association of Mexicans in North Carolina (AMEXCAN) held its 6^th Annual AMEXCAN Community Leadership Awards at the Goess Student Center at Pitt Community College to honor and recognize outstanding individuals and organizations for their service and partnership with AMEXCAN.

Community partners received a certificate of appreciation for their service to AMEXCAN and the Eastern North Carolina Hispanic and Latino Community. These community partners have provided support, resources, and facilities among other services for AMEXCAN to be able to carry out its mission to serve the Hispanic and Latino community over the past year. Among those recognized are the following; Pitt Community College, NC Justice Center, NC Rural Center, Immanuel Baptist Church, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greenville, Churches Outreach Network, Parents for Public Schools, North Pitt High School, East Coast Migrant Head Start, Dr. Essie Torres, Dr. Juan J. Daneri, Mr. Bryan D. Morales, Mr. Scott Temple, Ms. Norma Marti, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, Becky Leon, and Maritza Mata.

This year AMEXCAN divided the Leadership Awards into several categories to highlight those individual’s areas of service to AMEXCAN. In the field of Research and Community- Dr. Misun Hur, who began her collaboration with AMEXCAN in 2011. In the Leadership and Advocacy category-  Vicenta River Carino, Martin Montelongo, and Henri Bell were recognized for their service in advocacy, communication coordination, and internship respectively. Sabas Mezquita Jahuey was recognized in the Small Business category for his support in providing inflatables for events through his business Jahuey Inflatables. In the arts and culture category two traditional Mexican Folkloric dance groups were recognized- the Ballet Folclorico Espiritu Latino founded in 2004, and the New Bern Grupo Folclorico founded in 2012. For the health and youth category- Jeymi Ramirez was recognized for her involvement in the Making the Invisible Visible Program and Katherinn Rojas was recognized for her collaboration in the Latino Youth in Action program. Lastly, in the Education Category- Emily Hurdle, Toni McKoy, and Asha Allamby were all recognized for their participation in the Double Bridge Language Program.