Neighbor Up Grantee | Latin American Historical Society of Cleveland Ohio (LAHSO)

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Latin American Historical Society of Cleveland Ohio (LAHSO)

Honoring Our Latin American Legacies, One Story at a Time

Overview

The Latin American Historical Society of Cleveland Ohio (LAHSO) began its initial conversations in April 2023 when a couple of community members began discussing the lack of documented Latin American history in Cleveland. Through these discussions, the members quickly realized that the experiences of Latin Americans in Cleveland, Ohio — and across the United States — were, generally, ignored. They were rarely included in historical societies/organizations information or history books. The community members knew something needed to be done urgently to address this serious issue.

Hence, LAHSO was born. It was clear from the getgo that this public history recording effort was going to be a massive undertaking and would require a grassroots community effort embraced and planned for by the community, for the community. One of the members involved in these initial discussions, Dr. Evelyn Rivera, set out to recruit and organize what is now called the LAHSO of Cleveland Stakeholder Team. Dr. Rivera personally contacted hundreds of people over the course of the following eight months, welcoming and inviting them to join the team that would launch community conversations and a planning process on how Latin American history in Cleveland would be documented. The team met for the first time virtually on January 25, 2024. The team currently consists of 24 members representing diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds, ages, as well as organizations, churches and archival sites.

One of LAHSO’s most significant relationships formed was with the Lorain Historical Society, which provided significant support and guidance throughout LAHSO’s planning process with the help of Kaitlyn Bruglia, a History Corps member assigned to the society for the year. The LAHSO of Cleveland Stakeholder Team decided funding would be needed to carry out the organizations goals; thus, a grant was written and submitted to Neighborhood Connections in March 2024, and LAHSO received funding in May 2024. This grant provided financial support for a community listening retreat and planning process that was held on January 25, 2025 at the MetroHealth Via Sana Community Meeting Space. The grant also provided some funding for the development and initiation of our Oral History Project, which began collecting its first oral histories in July 2025. Neighborhood Connections went above and beyond to help LAHSO’s budding development by sending two LAHSO members to the Oral History Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio in October 2024.

Many thanks goes to the Lorain Historical Society, Kaitlyn Bruglia, Neighborhood Connections Executive Director Thomas O’Brien and Director of Impact Taryn Gress, Illumine Creative Solutions Founder and LAHSO Retreat Facilitator Jennifer Souers Chevraux, and Cleveland Ward 14 Councilwoman Jasmin Santana — who has been a staunch supporter of our organization since its inception. This amazing community support is truly appreciated — it takes a VILLAGE!

Mission

LAHSO’s mission is to preserve and ensure that the amazing historical contributions of Latin Americans in Cleveland, Ohio are recorded, documented, archived and integrated into the rich historical tapestry of our beautiful City, so that they are remembered forever.

Honrando Nuestras Raíces/Honoring Our Roots

Honrando Nuestras Raíces, which translates into Honoring Our Roots, pays homage to the trees included in the LAHSO logo. The trees represent our forefathers/mothers who came and planted their roots and raised their families here. The falling leaves are those of our community who are transitioning to the other side and the leaves on the ground are those who have passed away and who continue to nourish the roots of our beautiful City.

The colors represent the beautiful things Latin Americans brought and continue to bring to our city like our language, culture, dance, music etc.

The bridge represents how LAHSO will help bridge this cultural and historical gap so that Latin American stories and contributions become woven into Cleveland’s historical tapestry and history books.

LAHSO Logo & Badge

The LAHSO Stakeholder team decided on two designs to represent both the LAHSO logo and a badge for those who want to show their advocacy for the organization.

We want to thank Faith Boone of Boone Logic. She and her staff produced such beautiful designs that it was impossible to choose one, so we decided to use both.

The skyline of both designs is, of course, our beloved city. The red tree represents the Flamboyan (flam-boy-AHN), and the purple tree is the Jacaranda (hah-kah-RAHN-dah). The red tree represents Puerto Rico and the Caribbean and the Jacaranda represents the rest of Latin America where the Jacaranda tree can be found lining the streets of Mexico City to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

View LAHSO logo here

View LAHSO Advocacy Badge here

If you are interested in receiving a downloadable version of the LAHSO Advocacy Badge to use in your email signature, website, etc., please email your request to lahsodecleveland@gmail.com.