Georgetown University announces the 15th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award recipient, Abel Enrique Núñez, Executive Director of Washington, D.C. nonprofit, the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN):
Press Release – Abel Enrique Núñez, executive director of the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) will be honored as Georgetown’s 2017 John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award recipient on January 16th at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The university presents the award to an inspirational and emerging local leader at the free Martin Luther King, Jr. Let Freedom Ring Celebration, this year featuring award-winning singer Gladys Knight.
At CARECEN, Núñez expanded services in the District and surrounding suburbs, successfully pushed for legislation that allows undocumented immigrants to more easily obtain a driver’s license and many other accomplishments. CARECEN promotes grassroots empowerment, civic engagement and civil rights advocacy.
“Through his leadership at CARECEN, Mr. Núñez has impacted thousands of children, women and men in our city’s Latino community, providing them with essential services and resources that contribute to their own well-being and help to empower and uplift our entire D.C. community,” said Georgetown President John J. DeGioia.
The Legacy of a Dream Award marks the start of a year’s commitment and sustained partnership with Georgetown that allows winners to leverage the honor for broader recognition of his or her community organization or cause.
“This is a great honor, and I am really humbled to receive it,” says Núñez, who immigrated with his family to America in 1979 from El Salvador and grew up in the District. “CARECEN is poised as an organization to convene the Latino community in the District and facilitate a process to determine a common agenda.”
About Georgetown University:
Georgetown University is the oldest and largest Catholic and Jesuit university in America, founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. Georgetown today is a major student-centered, international, research university offering respected undergraduate, graduate and professional programs in Washington, D.C., Doha, Qatar, and around the world. For more information about Georgetown University, visit http://georgetown.edu. Georgetown’s annual Let Freedom Ring Initiative honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through a series of academic, artistic and extracurricular programs that examine Dr. King’s life and work and address the contemporary challenges our nation faces in order to fulfill his dream of justice and equality for all people. A link to the University’s full schedule of events this year is available at http://georgetown.edu/mlk.
About the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN):
Since 1981, the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) has fostered the comprehensive development of the Latino population in the Washington metropolitan region by providing direct legal services, housing counseling, citizenship education, and community economic development, while promoting grassroots empowerment, civic engagement, and civil rights advocacy.
A full history of CARECEN accomplishments may be found here.
About the Let Freedom Ring Concert:
Free tickets will be distributed two per person on a first-come, first-served basis at the entrance to the Hall of Nations at The Kennedy Center, beginning at 4:30 p.m. This program will also be live streamed on the Kennedy Center’s website at www.kennedy-center.org.
Free tickets are required. Beginning at 4:30 p.m. on January 18, 2017, tickets will be distributed two (2) per person in line at the entrance to the Hall of Nations on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets are reserved seats and are subject to availability. All patrons are asked to be seated by 5:40 p.m. Please enter through the Hall of Nations. Please dress warmly as portion of the line for people waiting to receive tickets will be outside. Note: There is no free parking when attending or picking up tickets for free events.
