2008 Awardees!
This year's awardees are as follows:

Distinguished Hispanic Ohioans

Nuestra Famila Awardees

Pictures of the Distinguished Hispanic Ohioans will run in Spanish-language newspapers across the State of Ohio.  This special advertisment can be downloaded here.

History
The Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs was created in 1977 with three primary purposes laid out in statute. These are to:

• Advise the Governor, members of the General Assembly, and state government in general
  about the issues facing the Latino community throughout Ohio. This may include proposing
  new programs, legislation, publishing reports, ensuring access to policy makers for the
  community, and other activities.
• Connect the diverse Latino communities across Ohio by gathering information about and disseminate information to Hispanic Ohioans. This may be accomplished through workshops, public meetings, reports, conferences, and town-hall meetings.
• Build and enhance the capacity of private sector not-for-profit community organizations and agencies in their service to the Latino community across the state. This work may include leadership workshops, applying for and securing grant dollars.

In 1980, in fulfillment of the mandate to “secure appropriate recognition of the accomplishments of Hispanic/Latino people to this state,” Ohio Revised Code § 121.32 (B), the Commission began presenting Hispanic Service Awards, which later became the Distinguished Hispanic Ohioan Award.

Every year, Latino community leaders, friends and family gather from all around to meet in Ohio’s capital city to celebrate the annual Distinguished Hispanic Ohioans Awards Gala, along with legislators, and other representatives of state government, including the Office of the Governor.

A roster of awardees since 1990 can be found here:

Distinguished Hispanic Ohioans

Nuestra Familia Awardees

Beginning in 2005, public nominations are now being welcomed and encouraged to share more broadly the special and unique distinction conferred by the Commission upon those who serve and strive to make a better Ohio for all.

Awards Types & Criteria
The Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs confers two different awards: the Distinguished Hispanic Ohioan and the Nuestra Familia Awards.

DHO Award
Distinguished Hispanic Ohioan nominees must be or should have:

• Hispanic or Latino/a ancestry
• An individual with at least two years of community service whose contributions under consideration for this award are above and beyond one’s job duties, obligations, or of exceptional benefit to Ohioans
• Ties with a Latino community organization
• An Ohio resident, or performed service of great, tangible benefit to Ohioans
• Of good character and community standing, exhibiting leadership

Nuestra Familia Award
Nuestra Familia Award nominees must be or should have:

• Of ancestry that is NOT Hispanic or Latino/a
• An individual, company, or other type of organization
• At least two years of community service
• An Ohio-based person or group, or performed service of exceptional benefit to the Latino community in Ohio
• Of good character and community standing, exhibiting leadership

As a part of the Commission's ongoing Tactical Initiatives, the Distinguished Hispanic Ohioan Awards Gala is a project under the leadership of the Ohio's Emerging Diversity (OED) committee of the Board of Commissioners.

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