Latino man honored for being a resource to immigrants

When Ernesto "Kiko" Cornejo first came to the United States 25 years ago, his driver license was suspended after three speeding tickets in as many weeks.

"I didn't know the rules," said the Woods Cross resident. In Cornejo's native Chile, roadways had speed limits, but with a lack of police officers, there was no risk of being pulled over.

Now, Cornejo teaches other Hispanics the rules of the land - and the road - as an employee of the state Department of Public Safety and the founder and director of a nonprofit organization in West Valley City. Cornejo recently was honored for his work by the FBI's Salt Lake City field office. He was given the Director's Community Leadership Award.

"Mr. Cornejo is very deserving of the Director's Community Leadership award for his work with the Hispanic Communities in Utah," Timothy Fuhrman, special agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City field office, said in a written statement. "Through his efforts and hard work, he is making a difference in the lives of the people he serves. With the continued guidance of Mr. Cornejo, many of Salt Lake City's Hispanic youth will be directed down the road of success."

For 10 years, Cornejo fielded calls seven days a week from people seeking his help - long before he began his nonprofit organization, now called the Utah Latino Community Information and Education Center.

Utah's Latinos knew who Cornejo was after stints at two Spanish-language TV stations, Univision and Telemundo. And with no resource center, they called Cornejo when they got into trouble. They found his home number, office number, cell phone number and used them all.

"I was so happy I could help them," Cornejo said.

Then, in 2002, when the Winter Olympics came to Salt Lake City, Cornejo established a toll-free phone number to assist people coming to the state for the games. Nobody who came from outside Utah called, but Utah Latinos were calling the number hundreds of times every day.

That same year, he started the nonprofit organization.

The center, located in the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley City, educates members of the Latino community in state, local and federal laws, crime prevention, immigration, public safety, domestic violence and local government in addition to other topics.

When he's not educating people at his nonprofit, he's doing it as an education specialist for the Utah Highway Safety Office, which is part of the state Department of Public Safety.

The two amount to a pair of full-time jobs, but Cornejo doesn't mind, saying he has so much fun he doesn't know the hours he's working.

"I love it," Cornejo said.