Location: Denver, CO
Mission: To reconnect Denver’s westside and create a community cultural & historical preservation center drive by the non-campus neighborhoods, students, and those members traditionally excluded. To address urban land issues relevant to the community’s truthful history and future needs.
Auraria Casa Mayan Heritage (ACMH) was created to promote Denver’s early Auraria settlement and the legendary Casa Mayan restaurant and cultural center, now preserved on the Ninth Street Historic Park, a national historic landmark on Denver’s tri-institutional Auraria Campus. The Casa Mayan was able to bridge social, cultural and economic barriers at a time when divisions among many groups were common. The Latino community was the last to reside there and contributed to Denver’s 160 year history. Ethnic groups gravitated into this area where their ingenuity and hard work prospered. It is now ACMH’s mission to “make history relevant” and accessible to not only the Colorado community, but to the nations community-at-large by preserving Colorado’s Auraria legacy through educational tours, historical research, diverse workshops, and multi-media events. ACMH aspires to increase community awareness of Auraria’s rich cultural heritage and the contributions that were made by the area’s early Latino population, as well as, other ethnic groups that resided and contributed to this community.