Blanca Santana

Senator Lieberman recognized Blanca Santana as a "Joe's Hero" for her work with the Spanish Community of Wallingford. Ms. Santana represented Connecticut as Senator Lieberman's invited delegate to the 7th Annual Hispanic Leadership Summit. The Summit is sponsored by Congressional Democrats and serves as a forum for Hispanic leaders to meet each other and to meet their elected officials.

Blanca I. Santana graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University with a Bachelor Degree in Communications and is the Executive Director of the Spanish Community of Wallingford (SCOW). SCOW's mission is to assist the Latinos in adapting into the community and mainstream American culture.

"As a leader in her community in Wallingford, Blanca Santana is representative of the important contributions Hispanics make in this country every day," said Lieberman. "Ms. Santana's love and passion for helping the Hispanic community has been evident in her work as a leading advocate on social and legal issues in Wallingford for the past 12 years."

Ms. Santana is an advocate for legal and social issues impacting the community of Wallingford. In her 12 years of working in the Latino community she has been the voice for members of SCOW and their families. Driven by her passion and love for her culture; she works to ensure that members become active participants in the community at large.

Ms. Santana is a native of Colombia who is bilingual-bicultural and works very hard to apply all of her skills and experience to move the Latino community ahead. Following her belief that knowledge is power; she collaborates with agencies in the town of Wallingford, including: Literacy Volunteers, Adult Learning Center, Officer Shalkey of the DARE Program and Mandy Miranda, Youth Officer of the Wallingford Police Department, Most Holy Trinity Church, United Way member agencies; and the Wallingford School System, just to name a few. She is also a board member of the following agencies; Connecticut Association for United Spanish Action (CAUSA), Hispanics In Philanthropy (HIP).

Additionally, Ms. Santana has been recognized by the Professional Business Women's Club with the Women of the Year Award and has also received the Distinguish Alumni Award from Eastern Connecticut State University. This year the State of Connecticut Martin Luther King 's Holiday Commission and the Connecticut Immigrant and Refugee Coalition recognized Ms. Santana for her Community Service.