[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6992]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             LATINO EMERGENCY COUNCIL'S 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Denham) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the Latino Emergency 
Council as we celebrate their tenth-year anniversary. Since their 
founding in 2006, they have provided exemplary service in promoting 
emergency preparedness and communication with the Latino community in 
Stanislaus County, California.
  The LEC was conceived in the fall of 2005 as a partnership between 
the Stanislaus County Hispanic Leadership Council, El Concilio, and the 
County of Stanislaus. The initial goal was to formalize a communication 
channel with leadership from the Latino community and the Stanislaus 
County Office of Emergency Services in the event of an emergency.
  The organization is a leader in emergency communication response as 
well as in personal emergency preparedness. The LEC distributes 
emergency preparedness information throughout the community in 
nonemergency situations and offers training to the community as a means 
of building community capacity and self-reliance in emergency 
situations.
  The LEC has assisted in multiple emergency responses, such as the 
H1N1 swine flu outbreak, heat emergencies, the West Nile virus, and 
cold weather situations.
  They also participate in multiple disaster exercises, translate vital 
information into Spanish, provide training for underserved community 
members, and perform outreach throughout Stanislaus County by 
distributing tens of thousands of pieces of literature in Spanish.
  Organization members also travel to the FEMA Region IX office in 
Oakland, California, and in Washington, D.C., and advocate for 
emergency preparedness capacity in the Latino community.
  Mr. Speaker, please join me in honoring and in recognizing the Latino 
Emergency Council for their service and outstanding contributions to 
the Latino community as they celebrate their tenth-year anniversary. 
They are an example of how amazing things can be done when people come 
together with passion and purpose to make change in the local 
community.

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