September 15th to October 15th is Hispanic Heritage Month, an annual celebration of the history, culture, and achievements of the U.S. Latinx and Hispanic communities.
Below, we have included helpful information and resources to help you celebrate:
Where to Eat (in New York City)
- Arepa Lady – Jackson Heights-based brick-&-mortar outpost of a popular food cart known for turning out South American
- Casa Adela – beloved cash-only Puerto Rican spot on the Lower East Side open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- Ofrenda – West Village Mexican cantina known for inventive fare, creative drinks & happy-hour specials. Try their fish tacos!
- Favela – Located between two of Manhattan’s most stylish neighborhoods, SoHo and The West Village, this restaurant blends Cuban/Brazilian cuisine
- Tropical Sensation – Harlem-based Dominican restaurant in the UWS (recommend their mofongos!)
- Burritos Y Mas – Mexican food with delicious vegetarian options in East Harlem
Where to Donate
- Make the Road New York – Make the Road New York (MRNY) builds the power of Latino and working-class communities to achieve dignity and justice through organizing, policy innovation, transformative education, and survival services.
- LatinoJustice PRLDEF – Using the power of the law together with education and advocacy, LatinoJustice PRLDEF protects opportunities for all Latinos to succeed in work and school, fulfill their dreams, and sustain their families and communities. LatinoJustice PRLDEF’s work fully embraces the diversity of the Latino community – especially the most vulnerable – new immigrants and the poor. LatinoJustice PRLDEF’s work encompasses three guiding principles – protecting civil rights, cultivating Latino leaders, and increasing civic participation – that convey our work and showcase our exceptional role within the Latino rights community.
- Latino U College Access – Empower first-generation Latino youth to enroll and graduate from college by providing students with the knowledge and support they need to achieve their dreams.
- Latino Commission on AIDS – The Latino Commission on AIDS is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Latino community.
- El Taller Latino Americano – El Taller provides experiences to its local and global community that serve as expressions of our shared humanity and our shared cultural heritage. The organization aims to inspire an extended commitment to our world through ongoing exposure to each other’s artistic and cultural lives to invigorate learning and understanding while forming a working community with the skills to read, interpret, and respond to one another and to the world in which they live. El Taller offers its community a varied menu of Spanish language classes, arts programming, and music. We seek not only to educate but also to engage and gather diverse groups together culturally and linguistically on the common ground of creativity.
Who to Follow
- Cutcreaser (Vanessa Funes) – El Salvadorian makeup artist, an editorial eyeliner legend
- Mimi G – Puerto Rican fashion blogger/podcast host/entrepreneur
Who Inspires Us
- Frida Kahlo – Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by nature and artifacts
- Lin Manuel-Miranda – Award-winning composer, lyricist, and actor. Creator of “In The Heights” and “Hamilton”
- Julia Alvarez – Dominican-American writer
- Salma Hayak – Mexican-American actress and film producer known for her roles in “Frida” and “Desperado”
- Sylvia Rivera – Famous drag queen and iconic figure in the gay + transgender rights movement
- Selena Quintanilla – American singer, songwriter, spokesperson, businesswoman, model, actress, and fashion icon, considered the “Queen of Tejano Music”
- Dolores Huerta – Labor Activist, United Farm Workers’ Union co-founder
- Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa – queer Chicana poet, writer, and feminist theorist
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – U.S. Representative for NY