Our Special Collection for the month of February benefits the Hispanic Business/Professional Association Foundation.
The Hispanic Business/Professional Association Foundation raises funds to provide scholarships for local Hispanic youth or for non-Hispanic youth who are involved in assisting the local Hispanic community. Scholarships are awarded to outstanding graduating high school seniors as well as undergraduate college and university students at the annual HBPA Graduates and Young Scholars ceremony. The ceremony, which also recognizes students in grades 7 through 11 with a 3.0 grade average or higher, is traditionally hosted at Spokane Community College and will be held this year on Thursday, May 12.
Created over 25 years ago, the Hispanic Business/Professional Association’s mission is to promote and serve Hispanic/Latino cultural, business, professional, educational interests, and social justice in the Inland Northwest. Besides the Foundation’s scholarships, HBPA also provides educational incentives by partnerships with educational institutions to support Hispanic students, outreach to increase college enrollment, and encouraging students to establish lifelong educational goals.
Since its beginning, the Foundation has donated over $100,000 to local high school graduates and college/university undergraduates. The main fundraiser is a fun event called Viva Vino & Brew. This is an evening of wine and craft beer tasting, auctions, entertainment by EWU’s Mariachi Las Aguilas, Flamenco dancers, and dinner. This year the Viva Vino & Brew fiesta will be on Saturday, February 19, at the Shriners Event Center, which is located just west of downtown Spokane, unless COVID restrictions cause us to move to a virtual event.
HBPA also sponsors several cultural events in Spokane to unite the local Hispanic community, such as a well-attended Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration in which we honor our deceased.
Additional information can be obtained by looking at the website, www.hbpaofspokane.org. Also, feel free to contact Larry Valadez at larryvaladez@yahoo.com or at 509-499-3812 if you should need further information about HBPA.