NEH and ALA Announce more than 200 Grants Nationwide for the Latino Americans: 500 Years of History Program

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and American Library Association (ALA) have announced that 203 libraries, museums and other nonprofit organizations across the country are to receive Latino Americans: 500 Years of History programming grants.

The Latino Americans: 500 Years of History grantees represent 42 states and the District of Columbia, and comprise 78 public libraries, 68 college/university libraries and organizations, 19 community college libraries, 10 state humanities councils, 12 museums and a variety of other nonprofit organizations. Fifty-five organizations will receive $10,000 grants, and 148 will receive $3,000 grants, totaling more than $1 million. View the full list of recipients here.

The American Library Association has been granted these funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support Latino Americans: 500 Years of History, a public exploration of the rich and varied experiences of Latinos, who have helped shape the United States over the last five centuries and who have become, with more than 50 million people, the country’s largest minority group.

The cornerstone of the project is the six-part, NEH-supported documentary film, “Latino Americans,” created for PBS in 2013 by the WETA public television station. The Peabody-winning series chronicles Latinos in the United States from the 16th century to present day. Latino Americans: 500 Years of History is part of an NEH initiative, The Common Good: The Humanities in the Public Square, which is designed to demonstrate the critical role humanities scholarship can play in our public life.

“We are proud to have provided funding to support the creation of this film, and we are pleased that it will be seen by diverse audiences in communities around the country through these new grants,” said NEH Chairman William D. Adams.

The grantees will receive:

• A “Latino Americans” DVD set with public performance rights
• Cash grants of $3,000 to $10,000 to hold public film screenings, discussion groups, oral history initiatives, local history exhibitions, multi-media projects, performances and other programs about Latino history and culture
• Access to additional programming and humanities resources developed by national project scholars, librarian advisors and outreach experts
• Promotional materials to support local outreach

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