Philadelphia, PA – January 16, 2018: Esperanza’s Founder, President and CEO, Rev. Luis Cortés Jr. was recognized as one of “101 Most Influential Latinos of 2018” and one of the top 20 Latino community leaders of 2018 according to Latino Leaders Magazine. Driven by the biblical mandate to serve and advocate for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40), Rev. Cortés founded Esperanza in 1986, with support from the Hispanic Clergy of Philadelphia. Today, with an extensive national network of Hispanic faith and community-based organizations, Esperanza is one of the leading voices for Latinos in America.
The Rev. Cortés has authored five books and was one of Time magazine’s 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in 2005. He presented the Invocation Prayer at the Inauguration Luncheon for Barack Obama’s 2013 Inauguration Ceremony and has appeared on several television, radio, and print media outlets, including Washington Week, Time, the Lehrer News Hour, the O’Reilly Factor, La Opinion, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.
More recently, the Urban Institute conducted an initiative that brought together 24 of the nation’s leading experts, advocates, and academics from across the country for the US Partnership on Mobility for Poverty, funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Rev. Luis Cortés was chosen as one of these partners, and Esperanza was selected as a model for moving underserved people in Hispanic communities out of poverty and towards economic stability.
For more information about Rev. Cortés, Esperanza or its programs, please contact Joy Huertas at (215) 324-0746 ext. 480 or jhuertas@esperanza.us
Esperanza is a national community-based social benefit organization founded in 1986 by Rev. Luis Cortés Jr., and the Hispanic Clergy of Philadelphia & Vicinity with the biblical mandate to serve and advocate for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40). Beginning with a local initiative, with programs targeted to address the unmet needs of North Philadelphia’s Hispanic community, Rev. Cortés is now sought by national and international leaders alike on issues of economic and workforce development, housing, immigration, and education. Under his leadership, Esperanza has grown from a small operation to a $40 million organization with more than 450 employees. Visit www.esperanza.us or follow us on social media @esperanza_us on Twitter and Instagram, EsperanzaUSA on Facebook and Esperanza US on YouTube.
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