Southern California Edison Honors Salesian Family Youth Center with Community Partnership Award
The Salesian Family Youth Center was honored with Southern California Edison’s Community Partnership Award during SCE’s 16th Annual Hispanic Heritage Month celebration on September 28, 2026.
Held under the theme “Resilience in Action: Empowering Progress Together,” the celebration brought together community organizations, businesses, nonprofit leaders, and public officials to recognize the contributions of the Hispanic and Latino community.
The Community Partnership Award recognizes organizations providing noteworthy, long-standing, innovative, and significant service to their communities. For the Salesian Family Youth Center, receiving this recognition was especially meaningful because more than 90 percent of the young people we serve are Hispanic or Latino, and our work has been deeply rooted in Boyle Heights for generations.
JC Montenegro, PhD, Executive Director of the Salesian Family Youth Center, accepted the award from Pedro Pizarro, President and CEO of Edison International. Joining JC for this special occasion were Salesian Family Youth Center Board members Rodrigo Vazquez and Hannah Mercado, along with Executive Assistant Juana Rodriguez.
For JC, the significance of the moment went beyond receiving an award.
“This recognition is an honor because it recognizes that we are giving voice to our young people,” JC said. “Everything we do is about creating opportunities for them to discover their potential, believe in themselves, and know that their voices and their futures matter.”
Partnership That Opens Doors
The recognition also celebrates the meaningful partnership between Southern California Edison and the Salesian Family Youth Center.
Through SCE’s support, young people from Boyle Heights have participated in college exposure trips to universities in Northern California, helping them experience college campuses firsthand and imagine new possibilities for their futures. The partnership has also helped bring families and young people together through community experiences, including a FIFA World Cup soccer viewing event that created a safe and positive space to celebrate and build community.
These opportunities are part of the Salesian Family Youth Center’s larger commitment to developing the whole person: mind, body, and soul.
Through academic support, leadership development, sports, summer camp, college exposure, youth ministry, career exploration, and other programs, the Center works to ensure that young people have opportunities to discover their talents, strengthen their confidence, build positive relationships, and see themselves as leaders.
Resilience in Action
This year’s theme, “Resilience in Action: Empowering Progress Together,” reflects what we witness every day in our young people and their families.
Resilience does not mean that young people should have to overcome challenges alone. It means surrounding them with families, mentors, educators, community organizations, businesses, donors, and partners who believe in them and are willing to invest in their future.
That is what makes partnerships like the one between Southern California Edison and the Salesian Family Youth Center so important. Together, we can transform support into experiences, experiences into opportunities, and opportunities into brighter futures.
As we celebrate this recognition, we do so with gratitude to SCE and to every donor, volunteer, Board member, staff member, family, and community partner who makes our mission possible.
Most importantly, we dedicate this recognition to our young people.
They are the reason we are here. Their voices, dreams, resilience, and potential continue to inspire our work every day.
This award is a celebration of what can happen when a community believes in its young people and works together to help them thrive.
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