“I challenge you to dream, and make your dreams become real life,” said Centro Latino Director Eduardo Crespi. (Evan Wilder/Adelante) Local Latino activist wins Columbia Diversity award By Mariana De Maio Adelante Staff Writer Eduardo Crespi, Centro Latino founder and director, won the 2002 Community Diversity Enhancement Award at a ceremony and banquet last month on the University of Missouri campus. The MU Human Rights and Diversity Enhancement Awards program started in 1994 to recognize those who have made significant contributions to diversity and human rights in the Columbia community. This year the judges decided to recognize the work Eduardo Crespi has done with the Centro Latino for the Columbia Latino community. “Eduardo Crespi distinguishes himself among the Hispanic community of Columbia because of his work with recently immigrated Latinos,” said Rangira Bea Gallimore from the romance language department at the University of Missouri during the awards ceremony. Eduardo Crespi, a recent graduate from in the MU nursing program, works at the Centro Latino de Salud, Educación y Cultura (Latino Center for Health, Education and Culture) to improve opportunities for working-class Latinos. In April of 2000, he and his wife, Barbara Brockman, opened the center that has become the most important local resource for Columbia’s Latino population. He and other volunteers celebrated the Centro’s two-year anniversary without fanfare last week, putting in a long day of work. “He recently took the Centro Latino model beyond Columbia and has laid the groundwork for establishing centers in Milan, Marshall and Mexico, Missouri,” added Gallimore. “We come to acknowledge the steps that some people have taken to advance and to secure the essence of human rights in our society, in our world, and this is a difficult challenge,” said Dr. Handy Williamson, vice provost for minority affairs. Besides Crespi, the other winners were: Mark Haim, Human Rights Achievement Award; Mark Miller, Alumni Diversity Award; David Ledoux, Faculty Diversity Award; Mary K. Bixby, Staff Diversity Award; and Bob and Stephanie Watts, Student Diversity Award. MU sociology professor John Galliher, keynote speaker for the diversity awards event, made a “Praise to Patriotism” to recognize the work of those who are demonstrating their loyalty to America by fighting for human rights and peace. “Patriots necessarily have a commitment to all their fellow citizens: male, female, brown, black, gay, lesbian, red or white,” said Galliher. Crespi also took up the theme of patriotism as he stepped up to receive his award, talking about the people he serves at the Centro Latino. “When you see a Hispanic at Wal-Mart or doing your landscape, think that that person made a big sacrifice to come to this country,” Crespi said. “Maybe you don’t consider that person a patriot, but that person is helping us be patriots.” Along with many other projects, the Centro Latino offers free English classes for Latino immigrants and Spanish classes for community members, publishes and distributes a newsletter to Latino families in the Columbia public school system, and guides new immigrants to local resources. For more information, call (573) 449-5381 or drop by the office at the Parkade Plaza, 601 Business Loop 70 West. “Three years ago I had a dream, and this dream became real life, and real life has challenges. I challenge you to dream, and make your dreams become real life,” said Crespi. “I hope this award will bring awareness to other people about the Latino families that come to Columbia.”