The Neon Museum will debutguided tours of the NeonBoneyard every Thursday,Friday, and Saturday at 8:30p.m. beginning Oct. 1. Thetours are being introduced forHispanic Heritage month and will become a permanent offering. “The Neon Museum has anamazing collection thatshowcases both the art andhistory of Las Vegas, and wewant to provide an experiencethat meets the needs of ourdiverse audience,” said AaronBerger, executive director ofThe Neon Museum. “WithHispanic Heritage Month uponus, we believe this is theperfect time to debut ourguided tours in Spanish. This isjust the beginning of newprogramming targeted todiverse audiences that we planto debut later this year. We are excited to bring to life the magic of The Neon Museum for our Spanish-speaking guests.” Berger added that future scheduling will be based on customer demand. Private tours in Spanish will also be available and can be arranged through the Museum. The guided tours will be conducted by fluent Spanish speakingMuseum Interpreters and will last 45 minutes, just like theEnglish language tours. Guided tour tickets are $28 per person ($24 for SouthernNevada residents). Tickets can be purchased online at: https://secure.neonmuseum.org/events, and the Spanish speaking tour should be specifically selected when tickets are purchased online. Spanish and bilingual videos about the new Spanishtours available for download here.

Topeka, Kansas, and the surrounding Shawnee County reached a historic high population in 2020. New Census numbers reveal that those who identify as Hispanic or Latino grew by nearly 24%, Topeka attracted approximately 2,000 new international immigrants and poverty rates in Topeka’s historically Hispanic neighborhoods were cut nearly in half. The city – led by Latina Mayor Michelle De La Isla – has seen immigrants drive business creation, fuel innovation and strengthen its middle class. Although Latinx people comprise only 15% of the city, 40% of Topeka’s City Council is made up of Hispanic individuals, including Mayor De La Isla and Deputy Mayor Mike Padilla. El Centro de Topeka, a Greater Topeka Partnership program that promotes equality for the Hispanic community, supports Topeka’s Hispanic-owned businesses. The response to the Covid-19 crisis also included the launch ofApoyarTopeka.com, a Spanish-language resource for businesses and residents. Washburn Tech East, a $6M extension campus of Washburn University, opened in 2019 to provide the region’s Hispanic community with access to career training, ESL classes and GED support. Finally, Hispanic heritage is immersed throughout happenings in Topeka. The East 6^th business district includes 30 vibrant Spanish-language restaurants, retailers and bars. Topeka CVB is among the first Midwestern cities to make its visitor’s guide available in Spanish, detailing events likeFiesta Mexicana, one of the Midwest’s largest Mexican heritage festivals. For more information, visit https://www.topekapartnership.com/.

Explore Charleston, the Lowcountry’s top destination management and marketing organization, introduced the inaugural class of its new Intern Cultural Enrichment Program (ICEP) on May 25, 2021. This initiative connects underrepresented minority students, many from historically-black colleges and universities (HBCUs), with world-class internship opportunities in the local travel and hospitality industry. ICEP is a ten-week leadership development program that complements the students’ paid internships. Participants engage in a weekly curriculum that introduces information about the local community and culture, fosters interaction with business and civic leaders, and cultivates peer relationships. The ICEP was established to prepare the students to hold hospitality leadership roles in the future, so many are shadowing general managers and rotating through several properties and multiple departments throughout the summer.  The concept for this program came from Explore Charleston’s “Heart for Hospitality” initiative. Launched in 2019, “Heart for Hospitality” is a living story that invites Charleston’s large and diverse community to advance the Lowcountry with raised awareness and action for inclusion. Thirteen students from six universities were accepted into ICEP, including Benedict College, Morgan State University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Virginia State University. Other non-HBCU schools include Johnson and Wales (Charlotte, NC) and University of South Carolina. Internship partners include Belmond Charleston Place, Charleston County Aviation Authority, Charlestowne Hotels, Hotel Bennett, Kiawah Island Golf Resort, Lowcountry Hotels and Wild Dunes Resort. There was no cost to the students for participation in ICEP and Explore Charleston is covering all summer housing costs.

By Lisa Skriloff, Editor, Multicultural Travel News

On the weekend that Juneteenth National Independence Day, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, was officially recognized as a Federal Holiday, we were touring Newport RI, with its own paradoxical history of the “co-existence of religious freedom with the poison of racism.” So quoted our guide at Touro Synagogue, (the oldest synagogue in the country,) whose informative talk started with the history of how the Newport Jews came to settle in the seaport, starting from Spain to Recife, Brazil, to New Amsterdam (New York City) where they “received no warm welcome from Peter Stuyvesant.” The descendants of these Conversos, who fled the inquisitions in Spain and Portugal, founded the Congregation in Newport in the late 1600s. Following his visit here, George Washington, in his 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, pledged that the new nation would give “to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” Yet at the same time, the “trade and export activities…that were the main engines of economic growth during the 18th century, (were) inexorably linked to Newport’s participation in the slave trade and widespread ownership of slaves by families throughout the city” as we learned at our visit to the Museum of Newport History. Today’s Newport is more human rights forward. During this same visit, Newport was celebrating June is LGBTQ Pride Month, and, with organizations such as Newport Out welcomes the community all year long. We also learned about Newport’s “Sail To Prevail – The National Disabled Sailing Program,” the first sailing program for individuals with disabilities in the United States.