Overview CHCI's Hispanic Heritage Month week in Washington, DC pairs a Leadership Conference of workshops, plenaries and networking with the Annual Awards Gala, which the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute calls the country's largest formal gathering of Latino leaders. The 2025 edition ran September 16 to 18 and included the 48th gala at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. CHCI is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) formed in 1978 by four members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus - Edward Roybal, E. "Kika" de la Garza, Robert Garcia and Baltasar Corrada - and moved off Capitol Hill in 1981, when it took its name. It runs paid congressional internships, public policy and postgraduate fellowships, a high school program and an academy for Hill staff. On site The conference days carry advanced-level workshops, deep-dive plenaries and special sessions, then a closing reception where CHCI presents its alumni awards; in 2025 the conference and reception ran at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. The conference floor has a Cafecito Bar, working and networking lounges, a headshot lounge, a photo booth, a wellness space and an expo, and the week adds an Arts and Culture Celebration and an alumni reunion reception. Gala night runs from a pre-reception and the Chair's private reception through the awards dinner to an entertainment finale and an after-party. Audience CHCI convenes Members of Congress and other public officials, corporate executives, nonprofit advocates and young Latino professionals, and in 2025 it counted a national alumni network of 5,000 leaders, the former interns and fellows of its own programs, whom the week brings back for a reunion reception and alumni awards. Attendees share the week under #CHCIHHM. Talent and Influencers At the 2025 gala CHCI gave its Chair's Award to Puerto Rican artist Pedro Brull, and NBC4 anchor Erika Gonzalez hosted. Danielle Gonzales, a 1997 CHCI congressional intern who was then president of the Albuquerque Public Schools board, received the Medallion of Excellence for a Distinguished Alumnus, and Alex Sarabia, then deputy chief of staff to Senator Elizabeth Warren and a former CHCI Public Policy Fellow, the Young Alumnus Award. Rep. Darren Soto chaired CHCI and Marco A. Davis was president and CEO that year. Track record The 2025 gala was the 48th; CHCI did not hold it in 2001, in the wake of September 11. CHCI says it convenes more than 2,000 leaders a year across its conferences, summits and events, and it publishes a program book for each conference and gala. Brand presence Sponsorship runs across both halves of the week. On the conference side a company can host the conference, an exclusive plenary or breakout, the closing reception or the alumni reunion, or sponsor sessions at one of four giving circles - Vanguard, Champion, Sustainer and Advocate - and it can own a working piece of the floor, from the Cafecito Bar and the lounges to WiFi, lanyards, hotel key cards and charging stations. On gala night the positions are gala host, the Chair's reception, the pre-reception, the entertainment finale and the after-party, with the same four circles below them.