[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 182 (Friday, October 31, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1026]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     HONORING MIRIAM WONG AS ONE OF CALIFORNIA'S 8TH CONGRESSIONAL 
                      DISTRICT'S WOMEN OF THE YEAR

                                  _____
                                 

                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 31, 2025

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor 
Miriam Wong as one of California's 8th Congressional District's Women 
of the Year. Ms. Wong is the founder and Executive Director of The 
Latina Center, a Richmond-based nonprofit organization she established 
in 1999 to empower and support Latina women across the San Francisco 
Bay Area. For more than two decades, she has dedicated her life to 
advancing leadership, healing, and opportunity within the Latino 
community. Under her leadership The Latina Center has become a trusted 
community institution devoted to improving the physical, mental, and 
spiritual health of Latina women and their families. In 2000, she 
founded Women, Health, and Leadership, a one-year leadership and 
community service program that began humbly in her own living room. 
What started as small gatherings to build peer support among Latina 
women has since grown into a transformative program that has graduated 
more than 420 women as Peer Leaders. The Latina Center's impact extends 
far beyond leadership training. Its programs provide parenting classes, 
mental health support, and resources for survivors of domestic 
violence, while also offering small business training and access to 
microloans to promote self-sufficiency. Graduates of The Latina 
Center's programs now serve as staff, volunteers, and board members, 
continuing the cycle of mentorship and empowerment that fulfills Ms. 
Wong's vision of community-led change. Ms. Wong's leadership is defined 
by empathy, inclusion, and cultural pride. On behalf of the people of 
California's 8th Congressional District, I am honored to recognize 
Miriam Wong for her extraordinary leadership and her decades of service 
to Latina women and families throughout the Bay Area.

                          ____________________