News

SAN FRANCISCO — Jan. 11, 2024 — On January 27, 2024, MNC Inspiring Success will present the Helen Fabela Chavez Legacy Award to SBA Regional Administrator Elmy Bermejo at the MNC Wolfsohn Campus.

Bermejo, a senior government official with more than 25 years at the executive level has established a successful record of collaboration with public and private stakeholders on a vast range of issues including women’s leadership, workforce development, disaster relief, and small business. On November 2021, President Biden appointed Bermejo as the Regional Administrator at SBA Region IX. Among her accomplishments, Bermejo serves on the San Francisco Commission on the Environment, The Women’s Foundation of CA, and is an Advisory member of Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE). “Elmy is the most admired person I’ve ever met in the political/government space. She is so highly regarded and respected in and out of Latino circles,” said MNC CEO Richard Ybarra.

The Helen Fabela Chavez Legacy Award

“This award is given to an individual who incapsulates the values of the legendary Helen Fabela Chavez and MNC Inspiring Success’s core beliefs,” says Ybarra. “Helen Chavez was a woman who was courageous throughout her life as a labor activist for the Farm Workers Movement, trustworthy and dearly beloved by friends and family and supportive to people in need.” MNC Inspiring Success honors her work and her role as a Latina icon with this award for the second year in MNC history.

Helen F. Chavez Scholarship Fund

The Helen F. Chavez Legacy Scholarship was established to help low-income first-generation students to pursue higher education to improve their lives and their families. Helen F. Chavez was a pioneer in the social justice and education movement and along with her husband, they started what we know as the United Farm Workers Union. The union has helped thousands of families just like hers. In addition, the work she and Cesar started has led to many other organizations that have built thousands of units of affordable housing, created healthcare and pension plans, and entertained thousands across radio waves. The fund has been established with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Here is the link for the first funding cycle.

Click HERE to view the event.

MNC Inspiring Success has Impact

In 1897, sisters Rachel (Rae) and Eva Wolfsohn of San Francisco established the first settlement house servicing girls in Northern California. Focused on alleviating poverty in urban areas through cultural programs and education, the settlement house became a community anchor, with its shifting generations of immigrants and working poor who followed. This Girls Club of San Francisco continued to be a safe and inspiring gathering place for girls of all ages and backgrounds, offering practical skills classes, cultural activities, and the opportunity to develop friendships and support.

From children’s services, after school programs, youth and family services, rental assistance, workforce development, homelessness prevention to healthy aging & disability, MNC has been serving the community with empowering, multi racial, social services for 127 years.