WASHINGTON: The National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers (NCHEPM) announces the 2024 Hispanic Heritage Month National Poster: “Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together.” The theme encapsulates the spirit of innovation, resilience, and unity that define the Hispanic experience. NCHEPM members, Federal agency partners, Employee Resource Groups, and members of the general public selected the poster through a substantive voting process. Mariana I. Purcell Rivera, a Puerto Rican artist and architecture student at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, submitted the winning theme, stating:
“When we think about the future, it is not difficult to envision wealth, unity, and technological progress. It’s easy to fantasize about a society that is flawless, but these forecasts only reflect the possible product of children who will ultimately transform the world as we know it. That is what lies ahead. We Hispanics are deeply rooted in that reality, with many other trailblazers who defied social norms and cleared the path for aspirational Hispanics, such as Sonia Sotomayor, Roberto Clemente, Ellen Ochoa, Julia Alvarez, Cesar Chávez, Rita Moreno, and many others. They help us understand that there are no boundaries to what we can do and offer to the world.
I aimed to depict all this in my drawing: trailblazers embracing the future and motivating them to co-create the world ahead. In addition, we can also see the children’s dreams shining above them as they ascend with hopeful glints in their eyes. I also made everyone stare forward in an attempt to get the observer to join in and dream. Our limit is only imposed by our own ambitions, and the future is ours to shape.”
From September 15 to October 15 each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the achievements, histories, traditions and cultural diversity of Hispanic/Latino/Latinx Americans whose heritage is rooted in 20 Latin American countries and territories: Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. The NCHEPM supports the Federal government’s observance activities by selecting the annual theme. The national observation began in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson. It was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover 30 days starting September 15 and ending October 15 of each year. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988, on the approval of Public Law 100-402.