LatinaLista — In 2011, former Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, created the American Latino Heritage Fund (ALHF). The main purpose of the new agency was to:
…assist the National Park Service and communities across the country to ensure that our national parks and historic sites preserve, reflect and engage the diverse stories and communities of American Latinos throughout American History and for future generations.
However the bigger mission charged to the agency was motivating more Latinos to visit national parks and historic sites. Realizing that part of the problem for lack of Latino interest was that few of the preserved historic sites did little to reflect the 400-year history Latinos had in the United States, the agency has been actively trying to identify and post information about Latino historical sites to broaden Latino interest.
To help with that mission, the ALHF just launched a new website meant to be an information hub featuring a database of national parks units, national historic landmarks and heritage areas related to the American Latino experience; online photo galleries, multimedia features, links to the organization’s newsletter, a page where visitors can nominate historic Latino landmarks; and a donation page to help support the agency’s mission.
Beginning February 11, the ALHF plans to hold monthly Twitter townhalls to share Latino history and culture. The hashtag is #LatinoHeritage.
“The new ALHF.org is the first of many steps designed to strengthen our efforts across the web and social media channels,” says Midy Aponte, executive director of the American Latino Heritage Fund. “We are continually striving to effectively engage audiences on issues of importance specific to preserving American Latino history and heritage in the U.S.”
