The Historical Society of Central Florida, the nonprofit group that supports the Orange County Regional History Center, has received a $30,972 award from the Contingo Fund, a division of Our Fund Foundation, for the History Center’s work on the One Orlando Collection Initiative to collect and conserve memorial items related to the Pulse nightclub mass shooting on June 12, 2016.
“We’re really appreciative of this award,” said the Historical Society’s Executive Director, Michael Perkins. “It’s a great help in supporting our dedicated team’s continuing efforts to preserve artifacts associated with the Pulse tragedy and make them available for future commemoration, education, exhibition, and scholarship.”
The Contigo Fund, an initiative of Our Fund Foundation, emerged from the Pulse tragedy to support the immediate recovery, intermediate rebuilding, and long-term transformation that has taken root in Orlando. The fund offers financial assistance to organizations working to heal, educate, and empower LGBTQ and Latinx individuals, immigrants, and people of color, as well as those working to end all forms of bigotry in Central Florida. Its name comes from the Spanish phrase “Estamos Contigo”—“we’re with you.”
The One Orlando Collection Initiative is a partnership between Orange County Government and the City of Orlando, with assistance and input from numerous community stakeholders and partners. Through the initiative, the History Center has collected thousands of memorial items and other artifacts related to the mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub.
For its continuing work on the project, the History Center has received two Awards for Collections from the American Association for State and Local History: A 2017 Award of Merit and the 2017 History in Progress Award. “These national awards recognize the amazing amount of work our dedicated team performed for our community in the aftermath of the tragedy,” Perkins said.
For more about the History Center’s varied programs and the One Orlando Collection, visit thehistorycenter.org. For more on the Contigo Fund, visit www.our-fund.org/contigo/
