Burbank’s own Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) will be the guest of honor at this year’s ANC Burbank Annual Banquet, which will celebrate the successes of the Burbank Armenian community as a powerful force at the local, state, and national levels, Asbarez reported.

The gala event will take place on May 4, 2012 at the Arbat Banquet Hall.

“We are honored to have Rep. Schiff join us this year in marking our progress in advancing our local community concerns, and also very much look forward to our local Congressman sharing with us how he represents our views and values in our nation’s capital,” said ANC Burbank Chairwoman Silva Kechichian. “This will be a great opportunity for supporters active in all spheres of community life to join together and renew our collective commitment to a vibrant Armenian American civic presence in Burbank.”

The ANC Burbank’s announcement comes just days after Rep. Schiff’s hard-hitting questioning of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a House Appropriations Subcommittee on State-Foreign Operations hearing, during which he urged her to clarify the Obama Administration’s position on the Armenian Genocide. Earlier in the week, he joined Illinois Republican Robert Dold (R-IL) in spearheading a Congressional letter to the Secretary of State, signed by over 60 Members of Congress, urging her to stop misrepresenting the Armenian Genocide as a “historical debate.”

As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Schiff has been a consistent supporter of high levels of U.S. assistance to Armenia and Karabakh, and most recently, in a meeting with Republic of Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili, advocated for targeted economic assistance for Georgia’s Armenian populated Samtskhe-Javakheti (Javakhk) region.

Proceeds from the ANC Burbank Banquet will be benefitting the ANCA Endowment Fund, a charitable organization supporting the expansion of civic participation of the Armenian American community through innovative programs including the Capital Gateway Program and Leo Sarkisian Internship program, which help college students and recent graduates secure internships and public policy jobs in Washington, DC. The ANCA Endowment funded a nationwide grassroots conference in June 2010 – Armenian Cause 2.0 – which attracted over 200 participants from across the U.S., including over 10 from the Burbank area.