9th Annual Awards Celebration Sponsorship
Our Annual Awards Celebration honors community leaders who go above and beyond individuals to support working people. On June 27, 2023, we gathered together to recognize these impactful individuals, reflect on the Center’s achievements, and raise essential support for our client services.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Champion
- Nathan Shaffer and Carmen Comsti
Patron
- ILYM Group Inc.
- California Nurses Association
- California Professional Firefighters
- California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
- Councilmember Katie Valenzuela
- Marcus, Regalado, Marcus & Pulley
- NorCal Resist
- Terri Friedman and Mark Urban
Leader
Advocate
- Amanda Laufer
- Brittany Berzin
- California Federation of Teachers
- Gurdeep Dhaliwal
- Law Office of Scot Bernstein
- Michael Rubin
- My Huynh
- Nichols Kaster LLP
- Paschal Roth Public Affairs, Inc.
- Peter McEntee and Kim Meade
- Phoenix Settlement Administration
- Shimoda & Rodriguez Law, PC
- SMUD
- Drew Lewis, PC
- The Six PAC
- The Villegas Law Firm, PC
- Toni Jaramilla Professional Law Corporation
- UNITE HERE Local 49
- Vice Mayor Eric Guerra
Supporter
- Weinberg Roger & Rosenfeld
- Apex Class Action LLC
- Carolyn Langenkamp
- Councilmember Caity Maple
- J. Felix De La Torre
- Jonathan Fleck
- Mayor Pro Tem Mai Vang
- Roger Dickinson
- Ruth Silver Taube
- Telfer Law
- Yoshihara Law & Policy
- Maria Padilla-Castro
- Allred, Moroko & Goldberg
- Bob and Choco Leandro Dresser
- Kershaw Tallow Barlow
- Langenkamp, Curtis, Price, Lindstrom & Chevedden LLP
- Barbara Berzin
- Councilmember Caity Maple
Honoring
Legislative Leadership Award: Barry Broad
Barry Broad has spent a lifetime working as a passionate advocate for the rights of workers. After graduating from UC Davis law school in 1982, he began his legal career as a board counsel for the Public Employment Relations Board. In 1985, he left PERB for the private sector, when he began working for the California Teamsters Public Affairs Council as an attorney and lobbyist. In 1994, he started his own firm, Broad & Gusman, and spent the next quarter century representing labor unions at the State Capitol. He retired from private practice in 2019 and later that year was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, where he continues to serve. He strongly believes in giving back to the community through volunteer service and has been active for many years in a variety of community organizations—including as a past board member of the Center for Workers’ Rights.
Legal Advocate Award: Cynthia Rice
Cynthia L. Rice serves as the Legal Director for the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC). Ms. Rice has specialized in Civil Rights advocacy focusing on Labor and Employment and Education rights in private practice and as a legal aid attorney for Community Legal Services (now Legal Services of Santa Clara County) Marin County Legal Aid and CRLA. Prior to joining CREEC she served as a Director of Litigation, Advocacy and Training for California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) and a part-time project director for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation Labor and Civil Rights Litigation Project. Rice has been actively involved in developing litigation strategies under state and federal laws for the enforcement of education, labor and employment and civil rights for California low wage families since 1979.
Worker Bravery Award: Leon Burns
Leon Burns graduated from Sacramento State in 2022 with a bachelor’s in Social Work and was the recipient of 2022 Dean’s Award for the College of Health and Human Services. Burns earned three associate degrees from American River College in Chemical Dependency Studies, Human Services, and Social Science. Burns works as a drug and alcohol counselor. After successfully pursuing a claim for unpaid overtime with the Center for Workers’ Rights in 2015, Mr. Burns returned to CWR with four colleagues to bring a claim again D&A Detox Inc. for unpaid wages and other penalties. In 2022, the Labor Commissioner awarded wages and penalties to Mr. Burns individually and collectively to all workers employed during the same period.