Press Release March 26, 2009

Media Advisory
Contact: Monica Gomez
Public Information Officer
San José/Evergreen Community College
(408) 759-0626
monica.gomez@sjeccd.edu

SAN JOSÉ, CA—  San José City College, home to the Janet Gray Hayes Award for Outstanding Community Service, is proud to announce the 2009 recipient is Hermelinda Sapien, Chief Executive Officer for Center for Employment Training (CET) in San José.   The celebration and recognition ceremony for Sapien will be held on Thursday, March 26, 2009,
11:00 am-12:15 pm at San José City College’s Student Services Center, Room 204, located at 2100 Moorpark Avenue. 

The award, created in 1987 by the Honorable Janet Gray Hayes, former San José Mayor from 1974-1982, is given to a woman of leadership and distinction who has been an inspiration and role model for other women.   Hermelinda Sapien joins a distinguished list of past recipients, including San José/Evergreen Community College District Chancellor Rosa Pérez, former San José Mayor Susan Hammer, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, and others.

“I established this award to honor the memory of those strong women who have come and gone before us, and to honor the women of today  who have worked their way into leadership roles and inspired so many,” says Janet Gray Hayes.  Hermelinda Sapien has been leading CET for the past 10 years, but has been with the organization since its inception in 1967.  CET is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to fighting poverty and dependence on public aid by making hands-on job training available to youth and adults of all educational levels & backgrounds, but especially to those most in need and hardest to serve.

The Janet Gray Hayes Award for Outstanding Community Service is awarded annually as part of San José City College’s (SJCC) Women’s History Month celebrations.   SJCC is especially proud that Janet Gray Hayes has chosen our college to mark her legacy with this award.