COMING SOON!
“This work is personal for our community. It’s about preserving and promoting our community’s contributions over the years and re-imagining our sense of belonging,” said Claudia A. Portillo, CAHAAS Co-founder.
The Central American Heritage Markers in Los Angeles project and its partnership with Cindy Mata of the UCI History Project and CSU Los Angeles’ professor Dr. Ester E. Hernandez will bring together community stakeholders to identify history makers in Los Angeles that represent the rich history and ongoing contributions of the Central American diaspora. This grant makes it possible to begin phase one of laying the foundation for permanent public markers in and around the city of Los Angeles.
With an estimated 7 million Central Americans living in the United States and more worldwide, making our underrepresented histories more visible through digital mapping and physical markers is critical in today’s polarized political climate, where debates about immigration, erasure, and human rights dominate the national discourse.
With funding support from the Latinos in Heritage Conservation, Nuestra Herencia, we will make significant strides in preserving and recognizing the generations of Central Americans who have helped build this city—moving us towards a more inclusive history of Los Angeles.
