New Projects

Portuguese Politicians in California

To the well documented history of the contribution of the Portuguese to the economic development of the State of California, the upcoming book Portuguese Politicians in California, by Dr. Al Graves brings into focus the lesser known history and contributions by the many Portuguese-Americans who have been elected to sate and federal office.

This well documented and richly illustrated publication, to be released by Portuguese Heritage Publications this summer of 2013, introduces every Portuguese-American elected to federal or state office and analysis the circumstances that have led to the election of a very large number of Portuguese-Americans from the San Joaquin Valley, a number that far exceeds the smaller percentage of the Portuguese American population in the valley.

Portuguese Politicians in California, a joint effort by FLAD, Fundação Luso Americana para o Desenvolvimento and Portuguese Heritage Publications is another important work in this publisher’s efforts to research, document and disseminate the history of the Portuguese experience in California.

Future Projects

Project Name Project Coordinators Current Stage Target Date
1. Portuguese Politicians José Rodrigues Working Project 2013
2. Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary People Tony Goulart
Christina Ávila
Henrique Dinis
Evaluation 2014
3. Portuguese Media in California (Radio, Papers, TV) José Rodrigues Brainstorming 2015
4. Portuguese in the Tuna Fishing Industry Tony Goulart Brainstorming 2014/2015
5. Portuguese Bands and Folk Groups Open Brainstorming 2015/2016

New Projects Criteria

The process of moving from a project idea to an actual publication in book form follows a complex set of steps, designed to:

  1. Ensure that the subject matter is historically relevant
  2. There is a market for it
  3. The financial results are break-even as a worst case

Given that Portuguese Heritage Publications is an all-volunteer organization, we are forced to temper our enthusiasm with the availability of volunteer resources to do the work of researching, writing, editing, layout, etc. For these reasons, sometimes we discuss projects that never come to fruition, or their release is substantially delayed relative to the original plan of record.

In order to establish a frame work to facilitate communication around the general status of PHPC’s projects, we created the following Project Status Criteria:

  1. BRAINSTORMING STAGE: The subject matter has been suggested from within or without PHPC, no script is yet available, no decision has yet been made with regard to viability.
  2. EVALUATION STAGE: The suggested historic subject merits further review in order to determine availability of volunteer resources, projected financials, size of edition, time table for completion.
  3. DECISION STAGE: The PHPC Executive and Evaluation Committees have reviewed and discussed the information available in a) and b) above and will make a decision which will be communicated to the Board of Directors and made public via the website and local press.
  4. WORKING PROJECT STAGE: The project has been approved, specific actions and ownership for same have been identified and an estimated timeline established.