On March 1, 2022, the National Trust for Historic Preservation program awarded $50,000 to the City of Socorro. This funding comes from NTHP’s Telling the Full History Preservation Fund. The fund is a one-time grant program to interpret and preserve historic places of importance to underrepresented communities across states and territories of the United States. The $50,000 grant award will support the Rio Vista Farm Connections Project. This project will focus on the research, development, and implementation of first-time public interpretive programs highlighting the history of the Rio Vista Farm historic site and the Bracero Program, and its impacts, legacy, and connections to the present. The Connections Project will identify impactful multimedia resources and culturally sensitive interpretive tools to amplify the underrepresented Bracero story and its true impact on the fabric of American society.
The goal of the Rio Vista Connections Project is to research, develop, and implement first-time humanities programs to highlight the history of the Bracero Program at the Rio Vista Farm through the use of key multimedia historic resources and culturally sensitive interpretative tools, to reach a minimum of 1,000 visitors by March 31, 2023. In order to achieve this goal, the City will collaborate with its partners at the History Department in the University of Texas at El Paso, to recruit and hire one (1) Public Humanities Coordinator (PHC) to implement interpretative humanities programming that reaches underserved audiences at the local level and at the national/international level. The University of Texas at El Paso’s Institute of Oral History will be an invaluable resource in identifying existing oral histories of Braceros and Rio Vista Bracero Reception Center staff whose stories can connect site visitors with this important part of US history. The PCH will deliver humanities programming within the project period intended to reach a minimum of 1,000 visitors by March 31, 2023. All programming will be delivered in English and Spanish to ensure the engagement of underserved populations as well as Bracero community descendants and stakeholders.
Short-term positive impacts of the program are increased awareness of this significant historic site at the local level as well as nationally. There are very few individuals and groups who are aware that a Bracero Reception Center still exists, is still standing, and still retains its historic significance.
The City of Socorro is excited to support the preservation of this historical building and further expand the exposure of the history to the community.