Victoria Brenes

Victoria Brenes has been a committed advocate and friend of the Hispanic/Latino community for many years. That commitment was recently recognized with her appointment to the Latino Empowerment Outreach Network (LEON), an information clearinghouse and forum for discussing challenges facing the Latino community. She also was one of 30 people asked to participate in a Hispanic/Latino leadership-training program.

Over the years, she has served as an English interpreter for the Latino community at Reynoldsburg Baptist Church and has taught homebuyer seminars in Spanish.

Having a son who is Costa Rican, Victoria has a special bond to the Costa Rican people, where she has traveled on missions to bring toys, candy, hope and encouragement.

This past year, Victoria spearheaded the initiative to form a Hispanic/Latino subcommittee under the CBR Affordable Housing Committee.

Victoria is in the process of helping to develop a housing information talk show for Radio Sol, a Hispanic/Latino radio station that will provide information on a variety of topics.

She also is working on a pilot project with Fifth/Third Bank that will help Hispanics/Latinos become homebuyers.

Victoria says, "My commitment to giving is a God given talent. It's heartfelt and something I have been doing since my early 20s. I believe so strongly that the better, happier, healthier people are the better our communities will be for all of us."