AARP Advocacy and El Comité Volunteer Recognized

AARP Colorado volunteer Irene Martinez Jordan is being honored in Miami by Hispanicize, a national recognition of Americans of Hispanic descent who have made great strides in their fields to improve the lives of other Latinos.

The Positive Impact Awards were created in honor of the late Louis Pagan, co-founder of Hispanicize and well-known social media entrepreneur. Pagan was widely known for his kindness and commitment to giving the community a voice through his vast social media networks. In the same way, the Positive Impact Awards recognize those who contribute selflessly for the betterment of their community, according to Hispanicize. 

 The awards gala for the 2015 Positive Impact Awards will take place this spring in Miami. Martinez Jordan and her husband will attend the ceremony.

“I am truly honored to have been nominated for the Louis Pagan Positive Impact Award,” said Martinez Jordan.

She was nominated for the award following a 2014 AARP online blog that highlighted her work with AARP Colorado’s advocacy team and El Comité, a Hispanic advisory group. After reviewing dozens of nominations, the organizers picked five people to attend the Positive Impact Award ceremony. 

Martinez Jordan is one of the first Latinas on the AARP Colorado advocacy team. She also is considered a powerhouse in education and a champion of Latino students within the Denver Public School system. She has been a teacher, counselor, principal and an area superintendent.

Martinez Jordan received the 2009 Women of Distinction Award from the Girl Scouts, and served as a mentor for the Latina Circle of Leadership and Adelante Mujer conferences, both programs that work to empower young women.

“Irene is an outstanding leader and volunteer,” said Angela Cortez, AARP Colorado director of communications. “She is so deserving of this award, and we at AARP are so very proud of her. Irene makes a difference every day.”

Martinez Jordan, originally from Pueblo, has an Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction, a master’s degree in guidance and counseling, and her undergraduate degree is in education and English literature.

With all the above to her credit, she says her greatest professional accomplishments include school reform – turning around failing schools and making them such attractive institutions that there are currently waiting lists of students wanting to attend.

[Photo courtesy of Irene Martinez Jordan]