Resident commissioner awarded ‘Human Quality’ prize
By John McPhaul
jpmcphaul@gmail.com
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón was recognized by the 2021 Ponce Awards for her dedication, work and results in public service with the Human Quality (Calidad Humana) award.
The awards took into account the impact of the work done by González Colón as a congresswoman, which includes ensuring that more than 1.2 million citizens have medical coverage and food aid, as well as expanding opportunities for small businesses by making federal aid accessible, obtaining resources for recovery, mitigation and infrastructure improvements, among other purposes.
“The work I do for my people in Puerto Rico I do with passion and dedication. It has not been easy being the first female resident commissioner, but having been convincingly revalidated, having been the woman with the most votes in the last four elections and the person with the most votes in the last two, added to this recognition, fills me with [pride],” González Colón said. “It is a great satisfaction to know that one is on the right track and that the people recognize this work. It is a great responsibility and honor to be the only representative of all of Puerto Rico before the federal government and for my people we have achieved many things and there is still a lot of work to do, but with a lot of enthusiasm.”
The Ponce Awards are determined by the organization’s board of directors, chaired by Chris Albert Santos, where they annually recognize the effort, social work and service of citizens with an impact on the Ciudad Señorial under the categories of music, art, civics, social work and service to the people.
For its 12th edition, there were 30 winners, including the resident commissioner, who on that occasion could not attend the gala due to commitments related to veterans’ health work in Puerto Rico. The award was recently delivered to the commissioner at her office in the U.S. Congress.
González Colón has received multiple recognitions for her work over the years. As resident commissioner she has always been among the top 25 members of Congress, out of 437 members of the United States House of Representatives, with the greatest willingness to work as a team.