Miami-Dade County's Office of Historic Preservation launches study of Migrant Farmworker Community

The Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) is slated to launch a Historic Context Study focused on the people and places associated with Migrant Farmworker Communities in Miami-Dade. This project is being funded by an Underrepresented Communities Grant (URC) from the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.  The Underrepresented Communities grant program began in 2014 and has provided $7 million to State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices and Certified Local Governments to work towards diversifying the National Register of Historic Places through surveys and nominations.  Miami-Dade County is one of 21 grant awardees and will use the funding to explore the history and places that share the stories of our Migrant Farmworker communities.

This funding supports OHP’s ongoing efforts to recognize the significant contributions to our history related to diverse cultures and underrepresented community groups. OHP is committed to advancing preservation and understanding of heritage resources by leveraging traditional survey work and context studies to expand narratives on the history of Miami-Dade to include the diverse perspectives of underrepresented groups and share the stories of places, events and experiences that have shaped Miami-Dade's communities. Miami-Dade County’s agricultural heritage is far-reaching and has been at the core of its growth and development since its initial settlement.

Key components of the Migrant Farmworker Historic Context Study will include:

• Historical research
• Community engagement
• Photographing buildings and sites that help share the story of Migrant Farmworker Community
• Identification of sites related to Migrant Farmworker Communities potentially eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places
• Nomination of at least one associated site to the National Register of Historic Places

Information gathered through the study will establish a record of the built environment directly attributed to the Migrant Farmworker Community and highlight this group’s significant impact on the growth and development of the South Florida landscape. This project is part of OHP’s multi-phased heritage survey effort focused on enhanced engagement with historically excluded communities.

For more information about the URC grant program, please visit go.nps.gov/urc.