Today, Rep. Pete Aguilar (CA-31) announced a federal grant awarded to Upland Library. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded Upland Library with a $3,000 federal grant as a part of the Latino Americans: 500 Years of History program.

“I’m happy to announce this grant for Upland Library and to share in the excitement with them as we highlight this news for our community. Cultural programs like this are crucial for the Inland Empire as we both honor and celebrate the diversity of our region and take the time to learn more about the experiences our friends and neighbors have had that brought them here. This will be a great project for Upland Library, and I commend both their staff as well as the Ontario City Library staff for making this happen,” said Rep. Aguilar.

Blanca Garcia-Barron, a library assistant and grant writer at Upland Library said, “The impact that we hope this grant will have on our communities is to broaden the awareness of the contributions of Latino Americans in Upland, Ontario and the Inland Empire at large. We hope to foster new relationships within our communities, and continue to expand our bi-lingual and cultural programming.”

The Upland Library and Ontario City Library worked together to help secure the grant. The grant was made possible through a partnership with the NEH and the American Library Association (ALA) which has awarded more than 200 grants to local sites to tell the stories of Latino American experiences in the United States.