This year I hosted an event on the Longfellow House social media sites (@LONGNPS) and co-hosted an event with Minute Man National Historical Park.
For LCW, I took over LONGNPS’s page and shared events happening across the country with their followers. On Monday July 20th, 2020 I hosted a Virtual Scavenger Hunt via @LONGNPS Facebook and Instagram stories. Throughout the day, I posted pictures and clues of items that people could find in their backyard. When they found the item, they were instructed to take a picture or video and post it to their story. I reposted the winners of each round at 5PM EST, to make sure people across the country could join. I also reminded everyone to tag @LONGNPS, @LatinoConservationWeek, and use the following hashtags #LatinoConservationWeek #LCW2020. I expected most of the viewers were not from the Latino community, so I created an inclusive space by adding both English and Spanish clues and descriptions. The Virtual Scavenger Hunt had over 100 viewers, a couple of participants, and was overall a successful event.
On Saturday July 25, 2020, I co-hosted the “Youtube Night & Discussion: Water & Labor Rights” hosted by a fellow LHIP intern at Minute Man National Historical Park. As a group, we watched two mini documentaries on YouTube titled Avocado Wars: The Battle Over Water Rights in Chile (PBS) and The Fruits of Mexico's Cheap Labor (Vice). After the videos, we held an educational discussion on water rights in Chile and the rights of Mexican workers. We had allotted 10 minutes of discussion time but ended up discussing the videos for an hour. This was the first time all the participants had seen the videos and were encouraged to share their initial reactions and discuss how they could make a difference in their community.
This was my first time learning about LCW, hosting events, and participating in events. The image above marks the two locations where we hosted events in Massachusetts. Once the week was over, I felt inspired and was happy to see events still reach people virtually. I will definitely be participating in next year’s LCW. Although LCW 2020 may be over, I strongly encourage everyone to continue Latino conservation conversations with members in their community and support local and national conservation efforts.

Agency: National Park Service

Program: Latino Heritage Internship Program (LHIP)

Location: Longfellow House