Funding for summer housing in D.C.

We are Gladys Aguilar and Jessica De Leon and are full time sophomores at Napa Valley College. We are also first generation college students. We come from low income households, where higher education is encouraged but unfamiliar in our homes. While attending our first year in college, we took part of The Latinos in Napa History Project (Spring 2015). The project was designed by Sandra Nichols, a geographer from UC Berkeley. While working along with community members, organizations, and Sandra Nichols, our task was to find the history of the land grant owners from the Californio era, the Braceros, and present Latino entrepreneurs in the Valley.  

A year later [Spring 2016], we were offered a 10 week summer internship in Washington, D.C. because of our collaboration in The Latinos in Napa History Project. We will be interns in The National Museum of American History, Division of Home and Community Life. We will work with oral histories and transcripts and much more.

With the skills and knowledge gained, we will collaborate on various community projects that acknowledge the Braceros and their legacy here in the Napa Valley.  Along with the community project, we will also help start a new college course with the help of Professor James McGowan, which we anticipate will be introduced in the Fall of 2016. The course will incorporate a cultural aspect through history and their own roots in the Napa Valley. The students will focus on the Bracero program and their families. 

Thank you for your donations in advance, and any amount given will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read about our project and our upcoming venture that will embrace the cultural diversity in our Napa Valley. When we come back from the internship, we plan on putting a community event where will talk about our life changing experience in the Smithsonian in which it was possible thanks to your contribution.    

 

Best regards,

Gladys Aguilar and Jessica De Leon