2025 ENDANGERED LATINX LANDMARKS
Year Built:
Longmont, Colorado
Las Barracas
1923
The Las Barracas site in Longmont, Colorado, is a rare surviving example of agricultural labor housing in Boulder County. Originally constructed as a World War II military barrack, the structure was later repurposed by the Tanaka family in the late 20th century to house Mexican migrant farmworkers. Today, the site stands as a powerful link to the intertwined histories of war, labor, culture, and displacement. Ongoing vandalism and deterioration highlight the systemic exclusion of Latinx labor history from mainstream preservation efforts.
"Las Barracas is more than a building — it is a living testament to the generations of Latinx and immigrant laborers who played a central role in Boulder County’s agricultural history."
— Elisabeth Rios-Brooks, Cultural Resource Program Coordinator, Boulder County Parks & Open Space
The Abuelas
Project
The Abuelas Project collects, curates, and amplifies stories of important Latinx movements, sites, and people across the country.
This GIS project encourages intergenerational storytelling through Storymaps that focus on Braceros, abandoned Mexican cemeteries, Route 66, and more.
Latinx Preservation Toolkit
The Toolkit is a bilingual booklet that empowers Latinx communities by demystifying historic preservation. The Texas Toolkit highlights four Latinx heritage success stories across the state, defines preservation terms, and provides guidance on how students, community members, and youth can preserve their communities.
Our next Toolkit will feature diverse stories across the borderlands.
Nuestra Herencia
Grant Program
We launched Nuestra Herencia Grant Program in 2024, providing $600,000 annually for Latinx heritage and historic preservation projects. This funding initiative focuses on empowering grassroots, Latinx-centered nonprofits.
It is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in partnership with the Social Impact Fund, which has contributed $1.8 million over three years.