On a sun-drenched Sunday in Manhattan, 5th Avenue pulsed with pride. Flags waved high, salsa beats spilled from every corner, and families grandmothers, toddlers, veterans, teens gathered shoulder-to-shoulder for the 68th National Puerto Rican Day Parade.
It’s the kind of New York tradition that’s less about spectacle and more about soul.
This year’s theme said it best: Plantando Bandera, Planting Roots.
But it wasn’t just a parade. It was a promise.
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Governor Kathy Hochul didn’t just show up to wave. She came bearing news that will echo far beyond the music and confetti: a $9 million investment into Hispanic arts, culture, and education projects across the state, with a particular focus on Puerto Rican heritage.
For those of us who teach, advocate, or simply care about the communities we serve, that’s the kind of funding that doesn’t just preserve history, it helps shape the next chapter.
“This isn’t about one day of pride,” Hochul said from the parade route. “It’s about making sure these stories, these traditions, this culture stays strong for generations to come.”
Here’s what the investment looks like:
A cultural institute in Buffalo gets a boost
The Hispanic Heritage Cultural Institute in Buffalo, a long-envisioned dream for Western New York’s Latino communities is finally rounding third base, thanks to a $7 million “gap-filling” investment from the state. The governor’s latest pledge will help push the project into Phase 2, ensuring that construction of the 37,000-square-foot center can move ahead without delay.
What will it be? A museum. A media center. A performing arts theater. A café. A space for kids and families to gather, learn, and celebrate their stories. When it opens, this will be the place for Hispanic history, creativity, and connection in the region and it’s being built with intention, with care, and with community voices at the table.
Casimiro Rodriguez Sr., who’s led the charge for years, called it “a gift to all of Western New York.” From where we’re standing, it’s also a gift to the future. To our students. To every kid who deserves to see themselves reflected in the pages of a book, on a gallery wall, or in the name of a building.
A revival in the heart of New York city
Downstate, the Hispanic Society Museum and Library, a gem tucked away on Manhattan’s Audubon Terrace, is set to receive a $2 million investment to stabilize aging infrastructure, open long-closed public spaces, and build an ADA-compliant bridge.
This may sound like construction jargon, but here’s what it means: more access. More visitors. More students stepping into exhibits and walking out with wider worlds in their heads.
With over 750,000 objects in its collection, this isn’t just any museum it’s the only New York institution solely dedicated to the arts and cultures of the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world.
For too long, safety issues and funding gaps have kept parts of it closed off. This new funding will help change that.
Not just buildings, bridges
For Governor Hochul, these investments are part of a broader pattern. Over the past year, she’s doubled down on Puerto Rican and Latino representation through the launch of the New York State, Puerto Rico Economic Opportunity Advisory Council, and by supporting the opening of a New York office for Puerto Rican Federal Affairs, so that families can access the essential documents they need, right in their own communities.
But for those watching the parade, hearing the drums, and walking beside banners honoring ancestors and poets, all of this policy work means something more: belonging.
A parade, a platform
As elected officials joined the parade State Senators, Assembly members, educators, and artists alike they didn’t just celebrate the past. They looked toward what’s next.
Senator April Baskin, who grew up in Buffalo’s West Side, put it plainly: “It warms my heart that Governor Hochul has prioritized more funding for this much-needed asset. This is for the community I know and love.”
And Assembly member Jonathan Rivera echoed what many of us feel about this moment: “Resiliency. Faith. Determination. This project embodies the heart of Hispanic culture.”
We often tell our students that history isn’t just something we read, it’s something we live. What Governor Hochul pledged at this year’s parade wasn’t just money. It was momentum. For books, for voices, for futures still being written in English, in Spanish, in Spanglish and in every shade of pride along the way.
Because when you plant roots, you’re not just honoring where you come from. You’re building something beautiful for who comes next.
