Each year when I see the crowded ballroom of our annual gala, I see a ballroom charged with enterprising and determined Hispanic business owners, professionals, aspiring college Hispanic students and community leaders.
I see the product of our ancestors, many of whom toiled in the fields and labored in manufacturing plants and factories. Their hard work, sacrifices, obstacles and challenges have formed the determined faces of Wisconsin’s accomplished Hispanics.
This new generation of Hispanic men and women are the latest torchbearers in a long line of Hispanics in pursuit of the American dream. Hispanics who are helping to shape the future of this great state.
For too long, our southeastern Wisconsin community lacked a media outlet dedicated to focusing on the many positive strengths that our community offered.
Four years ago this month, the Milwaukee journal sentinel launched ¡Aqui! Milwaukee magazine under the astute leadership of Cristy Garcia-Thomas. From the outset, the bimonthly, and then monthly, magazine began to fill a void by offering readers a deeper appreciation and awareness of our thriving and flourishing Hispanic population throughout Wisconsin.
¡Aqui! Milwaukee featured Hispanic leaders, artists, teachers, professionals, entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers and up-and-coming students all of whom reflected the important role played in the growth and enrichment of Milwaukee’s and Wisconsin’s economy. And it has done so with class, by going beyond the negative stereotypes to show a greater comprehensive reflection of accomplished Hispanics who make up our communities throughout Southeastern Wisconsin.
In 2006, Raul Vasquez took over as editor of the magazine, and he has utilized his journalistic abilities and talents to strengthen its reputation as a valuable, quality and widely-read publication.
On behalf of the HCCW board of directors, I take immense pride in announcing that as of June 29, 2009 the HCCW assumes complete oversight of ¡Aqui! Milwaukee. Over the next months we will perform due diligence, discuss and thoroughly identify the best possible options so that the ¡Aqui! Milwaukee can continue to be a positive and enriching media force in our community. Be assured, that as the future of ¡Aqui! Milwaukee is discussed we will proceed in the best interests of our community.
We tip our sombreros to Milwaukee journal sentinel president /publisher Betsy Brenner for her steadfast commitment to our growing Hispanic community, to the Wisconsin Energy Foundation for recognizing the importance of retaining ¡Aqui! Milwaukee’s editor/publisher, Raul Vasquez, and to the HCCW board of directors, in particular Nancy Hernandez, for supporting this venture.
|
News 
