THE PURPOSE OF THE
LATINX
PRESERVATION TOOLKIT
Empowering Latinx Communities Through Historic Preservation
LHC is committed to preservation equity, striving to democratize the mainstream preservation field. The Latinx Preservation Toolkit serves as an introduction to the principles and practices of historic preservation, encompassing both community-led preservation and mainstream approaches. The Toolkit ensures equal access to information, empowering Latinx communities to preserve, celebrate contributions, and tell their own stories.
By empowering communities in both urban and rural landscapes, the Toolkit invites individuals to step into leadership roles, safeguard their communities, and preserve sacred Latinx sites. LHC aims to establish equitable practices and cultivate a new generation of heritage stewards deeply connected to their cultural roots.
UNDERSTANDING HISTORIC PRESERVATION
What is historic preservation?
Historic preservation is a diverse discipline committed to recognizing, safeguarding, and conserving culture and history. Over the course of time, Latinx and Indigenous communities have carefully preserved homelands, family stories, cultural traditions, heritage, and sacred sites, contributing to the legacy of our collective past.
Highlights
Empowering Individuals and Organizations: The Latinx Preservation Toolkit provides accessible, community centered guidance for identifying and protecting places that matter in Latinx communities. It empowers individuals and organizations to take part in preservation through practical tools grounded in lived experience.
Empowering Our Youth: The Tiny Tookits are youth-centered resources that introduce elementary aged children to historic preservation through engaging, culturally grounded activities. They empower young learners to explore their communities and see themselves as future caretakers of history and culture.
Tools for Educators: Our Teacher Professional Development Workshops help educators teach Latinx history in ways that center community, memory, and lived experience. Rather than adding content, they shift how history is understood and valued in the classroom.
Community Toolkit Series: The Latinx Preservation Toolkit Webinar Series is a four-part series that guides participants through identifying, recognizing, and protecting culturally significant places in their communities. Grounded in community knowledge, it offers practical tools to move from recognition to meaningful preservation action.
START PRESERVING YOUR HISTORIA
Preservation is para todxs — for everyone,
no matter your age!
The Latinx Preservation Toolkit is a community-centered resource developed by Latinos in Heritage Conservation (LHC) to support the recognition of Latinx historic places, stories, and cultural landscapes. It translates preservation concepts and processes into accessible, practical guidance grounded in community knowledge and lived experience. Designed for everyone from community members to practitioners, the Toolkit offers clear pathways to identify, document, and advocate for places that matter, while affirming preservation begins with the people who know these spaces best.
This initiative extends to our young learners with what we call The Tiny Toolkit: a series of youth-centered resources created by LHC to introduce elementary aged children to the importance of historic preservation. Designed to be engaging, accessible, and culturally grounded, each Tiny Toolkit invites young learners to explore the places, stories, and traditions that shape their communities. Children can begin to see themselves as caretakers of history and culture through hands-on activities, reflection, and storytelling. By making preservation approachable at an early age, the Tiny Toolkits help foster the next generation of preservationists.
Download our Latinx Preservation Toolkit and explore our expanding collection of bilingual Tiny Toolkits, featuring core themes like cemeteries, migration, murals, Latinx main streets, legacy business, abandoned Mexican schools, environmental impacts and capacity building.
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DOWNLOAD TOOLKITS
WORKSHOPS + WEBINARS
The Latinx Preservation Toolkit Webinar Series is a four-part learning experience designed to support communities in identifying, recognizing, and protecting the places that matter most to them.
Grounded in the Latinx Preservation Toolkit, this series introduces participants to the foundations of historic preservation, explores how recognition can serve as a form of protection, and provides practical, step-by-step guidance for beginning and advancing a nomination. Moving beyond designation, the series also centers community-driven approaches to stewardship, storytelling, and long-term preservation. Designed for community members, educators, and practitioners alike, these webinars offer accessible tools and resources to help safeguard Latinx histories, spaces, and cultural memory.
Latinos in Heritage Conservation’s teacher professional development workshops support educators in bringing Latinx history, culture, and community knowledge into the classroom in meaningful and responsible ways. Grounded in decolonial and place-based approaches, these workshops reframe historic preservation as a living practice shaped by memory, storytelling, art, and everyday experiences. Educators engage with tools such as oral history, memory mapping, and cultural archives to better connect curriculum to the communities their students come from. Rather than adding content, this work shifts how history is understood, taught, and valued, centering Latinx histories as essential, not supplemental.
Latinx Preservation Toolkit Workshops are in-person, community-based learning experiences designed to support participants in identifying, documenting, and protecting the places that matter most to them. These workshops provide hands-on guidance through key preservation concepts, from defining culturally significant places to beginning the recognition and nomination process. Centered on local knowledge, memory, and lived experience, each workshop creates space for participants to engage directly with preservation tools and strategies that can be applied within their own communities.
UPCOMING EVENTS
IN HERITAGE CONSERVATION
LATINOS
HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE CLASSROOM
LESSON PLANS
Integrate Latinx Historic Preservation in your classroom.
Use these lesson plans as inspiration for using place-based pedagogy in your classroom.
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The Tiny Toolkit
JUST FOR KIDS
Preservation is para todos—for everyone, no matter your age!
Discover our expanding collection of bilingual Tiny Toolkits, specially designed for kids, featuring topics like Braceros, Rio Vista Farm, and cemetery conservation.
New Tiny Toolkits are published twice a year—start exploring today!
Testimonials
"I just want you to know that I LOVED it! Y'all did such a wonderful job and I thank you so much for helping to get our story of Pike Park and the history of our Mexican American community out to a wider audience. Thank you and we look forward to working with Latinos in Heritage again!"
- Rosemary Hinojosa, Board Member, DMAHL
“Thank you so much for your dedication and hard work to make this happen. Truly overdue for our minority communities. Keep up the amazing work.”
– Gracie Saenz, LULAC Council 60 Board Member
