Show Me the Money: How the Mexican Heritage Plaza Got Funded Against All Odds
Part 9: Funding the Project | By Eddie García
From Silicon Valley Latino
For four decades the dream had no money. No institutional support. No city behind it. What it had was community members with persistence, tenacity, and an unshakeable belief that San José's Mexican community deserved a space to call its own. Part 9 of Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative is where that changes. Eddie García takes us from a community fundraiser that netted $30,000 all the way to the halls of Congress, where a powerful chairman looked at Blanca Alvarado and Pete Carrillo and said simply, “Consider it done.”
Missed Part 8? Read ¡Viva El Mariachi! How a Festival in a Cramped Office Became the Dream’s First Victory. Start from the beginning with Part 1: The Prologue.
Author’s Note
During the 1950s, the Comisión Honorífica Mexicana acquired property to build a cultural center but lacked the funds to plan and construct anything substantial. A decade later, a “Mexican Village” envisioned by El Excéntrico Magazine could not secure financing or city support. The Mexican American Chamber of Commerce attempted to resurrect the Mexican Village concept in the 1970s. All three efforts lacked funding and institutional support from City Hall.
With the success of the inaugural San José International Mariachi Conference and Festival in 1992, the Mexican Heritage Corporation (MHC) had the resources to focus on funding construction of the Mexican Heritage Plaza and Gardens (MHPG) project. The city council provided $3 million in seed money. Councilwoman Blanca Alvarado skillfully secured city council support to increase the City’s contribution to $6 million as the vision expanded.
photo credit City of San José
The five-year effort to build a cultural space for Mexican Americans began with a joint memorandum from Mayor Tom McEnery and Councilwoman Blanca Alvarado. City council support changed the landscape from the previous efforts. With $6 million available, funding that was not accessible a generation earlier, the MHC created a real opportunity for success. There was one hitch: the MHC had to raise $3 million to obtain the City’s financial commitment.
Today’s excerpt, from Chapter 11 (Show Me the Money) of Mexican Heritage Plaza: A Symbol of Resilience and Perseverance, tells the story of how the MHC employed creative fundraising strategies to meet its $3 million commitment to build the MHPG project. It is the ninth installment in a 12-part series for SVL’s Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative. The book is available in paperback and on Kindle at Amazon: amazon.com — Mexican Heritage Plaza.
Mexican Heritage Plaza: A Symbol of Resilience and Perseverance
by Eddie García
Chapter 11
Show Me the Money
MHC board members had been wrestling with the fact that $3 million was a tall order. They realized that local donors would not deliver big checks after netting about $30,000 from a widely distributed community appeal for capital. The first large donation was a $50,000 gift from the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, the largest utility in Northern California. Combined, the total raised to that point represented less than 3% of the funds needed. The board needed a strategy for raising big chunks of funding.
Pete Carrillo was an ardent student of the political process. He knew that members of Congress regularly appropriated federal dollars for local projects through what are called “earmarks” in the budget process. The practice had greatly benefited San José and the greater Santa Clara Valley. Two veteran lawmakers savvy in the ways of Washington, D.C., represented the valley during the early 1990s. Rep. Don Edwards’s 16th congressional district covered most of San José and the southern part of Santa Clara County. Rep. Norm Mineta, in his ninth term in the House of Representatives, represented parts of west and north San José.
After nearly a dozen years on the city council, Alvarado distinguished herself as a thoughtful policymaker, committed public servant, and skilled politician. She developed strong working relationships with both veteran lawmakers. When Alvarado shared her vision of the MHPG project with San José’s two-person congressional delegation, each representative expressed support and offered to help.
Carrillo suggested to his former boss that she request $250,000. Edwards and Mineta agreed to support the request by introducing legislation as an earmark in a congressional appropriations subcommittee that included several funding buckets for strengthening urban communities. The lawmakers recommended that Alvarado visit Washington, D.C., to personally advocate for the funding with the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee. Carrillo joined her on the trip.
photo credit ClevelandSeniors.com
Rep. Louis Stokes, a skilled legislator from Cleveland, was the chairman of the subcommittee. He was an imposing and powerful figure in the halls of Congress. Despite the power he wielded, the New York Times described Stokes as “a balding, round-faced man known as a determined legislator with a congenial manner.” His smile and friendly eyes were infectious.
When they arrived in Washington, D.C., Alvarado and Carrillo made their way to the chairman’s office. The plan was for Alvarado to set the table by describing the project in her distinctive, compassionate eloquence. Carrillo had prepared a detailed financial analysis. Stokes greeted the duo with a wide grin, friendly handshakes, and a polite, “How are you?” After exchanging warm pleasantries, Alvarado was ready to get to the business at hand. Stokes politely interrupted her and assured Alvarado and Carrillo that he knew why they were there. “If that’s what Mr. Mineta and Mr. Edwards want,” Stokes graciously explained with a big smile, “consider it done.” The congressman then asked confidently, “Do you want to take a picture?”
Several months later, a staffer from Rep. Edwards’ office called Carrillo with the news that Congress had appropriated $1 million for the MHPG project! In what seemed like an instant, a couple of handshakes and a photo-op with a powerful congressional chairman suddenly delivered the MHC one-third of the way to raising the City-required $3 million. The MHC used that funding to inspire other funders. The organization raised the additional $2 million from the State, County, and private donors.
From the sixth floor at City Hall and the tenth floor of the County Administration Building to the corridors in the state capitol and the center of American democracy in the halls of Congress, the resilient and determined MHC cobbled together the funding needed to build the gardens and plaza. The civic leaders’ vision for the project, however, did not stop at the plaza and gardens. There was more to do. Six million dollars from the City and $3 million from the MHC were just enough to get started.
Get the Book
Mexican Heritage Plaza: A Symbol of Resilience and Perseverance by Eddie García is available in paperback and on Kindle.
Purchase on Amazon: amazon.com — Mexican Heritage Plaza
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Also in Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative
¡Viva El Mariachi! How a Festival in a Cramped Office Became the Dream’s First Victory
Five people. One office. 1988. That is where the Mexican Heritage Plaza began. Eddie García documents how the Mexican Heritage Corporation turned four decades of rejection into a $153,000 mariachi festival victory. Part 8 of Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative.
The Dream: Four Decades of Fighting for a Space to Call Our Own
As early as 1952, San José's Mexican community was fighting for a cultural center. The city said no. Four decades of roadblocks and demolished plans. Eddie García documents the dream that refused to die. Part 7 of Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative.
The Tech Museum and the Children's Discovery Museum Stand on the Ashes of La Colonia
Before the Tech Museum and the Children's Discovery Museum, there was La Colonia. Eddie García documents how San José's urban renewal policies demolished a thriving Mexican neighborhood. Part 6 of Raíces — Our Story, Our Narrative.
Sergio Domeyko
Publisher
Co-Founder, COO & Publisher of Silicon Valley Latino, covering Latino business and culture across the Bay Area and beyond since 2011.