City Council Proclamations

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Austin City Council 44 min 4 speakers 3 agenda items transcribed 2 months ago official recording ↗

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Who is Aurelia Garza de Cortes and why is she being honored by Austin City Council?

José Vela 0:06

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to City Hall. It's an honor today to recognize Aurelia Garza de Cortes. I'm Chito Vela, Mayor Pro Tem for the City of Austin with Aurelia Garza de Cortes right here. It's a real unique pleasure and honor to recognize Aurelia because my mother, is a retired librarian now and was a huge fan of bilingual children's books. She worked in elementary school for many, many years. I spent many school day after school at the library, at my mom's library, reading books. a lot of Spanish-speaking kids. So the work that Aurelia did is very close to my heart. It connects deeply with me. She brought literature and literacy and joy to so many children. She preserved Spanish literacy as well, a native language for a lot of kids.

José Vela 1:12

And she's been honored in many, many ways. She's a co-founder of the Pura Belpre Award alongside Sandra Rios Valderrama. The award honors Latino and Latina authors and illustrators whose work reflects the Latino cultural experience. A lifelong educator and active in the world of Austin libraries, of Texas libraries, of national libraries. It's just a great pleasure to honor Auralia today, and I just want to turn it over to Auralia to say a few words for us. Please.

Aurelia Garza de Cortes 1:57

Buenos dias, good morning, everybody. Thank you all for being here. Can you hear me okay? We got you. Councilman Vela, thank you so much for your kind words and for your great leadership in the city. I want to thank my husband, Ernesto, and my family, Jacob, Amy, Alma, Eva, Leti, my sister. Lucas, my grandson, who... Where's Maya? Oh, my God, I didn't recognize her. She's so big and tall. These kids are growing. They're leaving me behind. Thank you all for being here. It's a really great honor and a pleasure for me to be here and for me to have been able to do all this work all these years. There's nothing better than this work. There just isn't. To see kids reading, to see a community engaged in books just like we all are, that's what we want, isn't it?

2:58

Yes.

Aurelia Garza de Cortes 2:59

Absolutely. So my words to you is that we've got to continue the work, and you can't just do it by yourself. You've got to get other people to do it as well. And you've got to be at City Hall making sure we get the monies that we need right here. City Hall, see you in August. And before then, to make sure we've got the budget, okay? Thank you so much.

José Vela 3:26

Thank you very much. promoting libraries and budget and resources for literacy and libraries in retirement at her ceremony. It's great, it's great. Let me go ahead and read this beautiful proclamation. Be it known that, whereas, a librarian, advocate, bibliographer, and scholar has been a leading voice in advancing access for Latino children to high-quality literature and in strengthening publishing standards for books written by and featuring Latino protagonists and storylines, and whereas, she is the co-founder, along with Sandra Rios Valderrama, of the Pura Belpre Award, named in honor of the New York Public Library's first Latina librarian, which recognizes outstanding Latino authors and illustrators whose work celebrates the Latino cultural experience for children.

José Vela 4:21

And the first Pura Belpre Award was presented to the American Library Association National Conference in 1996, held in Austin, Texas, nearly 30 years ago. And this award helped inspire a national strategy that centered community organizing as a core component of family literacy. And whereas, as a leader with Austin Interfaith, Garza de Cortes led efforts to secure funding for Austin Public Libraries, City of Austin and Austin Independent School District bond improvements, and family literacy initiatives in public schools. And she has worked to provide thousands of books to child refugees in Austin, while continuing to sponsor the direct delivery of award-winning books to families in rural communities in Guanajuato, Mexico, and western Colombia.

José Vela 5:02

And whereas, in recognition of her four decades of service to the common good, her enduring commitment to literacy, and her transformative impact on children, families, and communities locally, nationally, and internationally, now, therefore, I, Chito Vela, Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Austin, do hereby proclaim April 23, 2026, as Aurelia Garza de Cortes Day in Austin, Texas.