SALSA, the Strategic Alliance for Leadership and Social Action, presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Juan Andrade, Saturday, September 20. Also in attendance were members of the First Mexican Baptist Church, Andrade’s home church, of which he and his wife, Elena, are still members.

A Brownwood High School and HPU graduate, he is the 4th of only six Hispanics in history to be decorated by both a President of the United States at the White House “for the performance of exemplary deeds of service for the nation” and by the Government of Mexico for his services to the Mexican and Mexican American communities in America.

During his 55-year career, Andrade directly impacted the passage of legislation in Texas, Wisconsin and Ohio that improved the quality of life for Hispanics and elections in 10 countries including Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname and Haiti by promoting democracy.

In Brownwood, together with city officials and civic leaders, he led efforts to improve municipal facilities and to elect a school board committed to hiring Hispanic teachers and administrators, a practice that has continued for 50 consecutive years. At Howard Payne, in 1975, he endowed the first of two funds to provide scholarship for Hispanic students.

More recently, he organized local families who donated and planted 39 trees around Wiggins Park to honor and memorialize Brownwood’s first Mexican families and beautify the park. His home church also planted 24 trees to memorialize the founders and honor current members.

Andrade is co-founder and president of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute (USHLI) in Chicago, which for 43 years has sponsored the largest annual gathering of students representing over 100 colleges and universities in 40 states. USHLI is the only non-federally funded organization to be named National Hispanic Organization of the Year. USHLI has registered 2.3 million new voters, trained 1.1 million present and future leaders, awarded $1.6 million in scholarships and published 425 reports on Hispanic demographics, including the Almanac of Latino Politics.

Andrade has been listed five times among the “100 Most Influential Hispanics in America” and is the only Hispanic leader in the nation to be a regular commentator on television (ABC) and radio (WGN) and newspaper columnist (Chicago Sun Times). He has earned five degrees, including three master’s and a doctorate, received six honorary doctorates, received Distinguished Alumni awards at three universities, taught parttime at three universities, and was a Chicagoan of the Year in 2014.