UC Immigrant Legal Services Center Executive Director Blanco receives Legacy Award

  • by Carla Meyer

The Chicana Latina Foundation of Northern California has honored UC Immigrant Legal Services Center Executive Director María Blanco with its Legacy Award.

Blanco was honored at an awards gala on Oct. 18 in San Francisco. , along with Lariza Dugan-Cuadra, executive director of CARECEN (Central American Resource Center), who received the Emerging Leader Award, and student scholarship recipients.

Blanco is executive director of the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center, which provides immigration-related legal services for undocumented students. A graduate of UC Berkeley School of Law, Blanco has more than 20 years of experience as a civil rights litigator and advocate.

Blanco served as executive director of the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute at UC Berkeley School of Law, as executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, and as national senior counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She is a member of the Public Policy Institute of California Board of Directors and the California Citizens’ Redistricting Commission.