Laredo Children’s Museum (LCM), founded in 1991 on the Texas/Mexico border, serves one of
the most disadvantaged communities in Texas. The population of the metropolitan area is
201,292, and Nuevo Laredo, immediately across the border, is home to roughly 500,000. Of the
school district’s 22,547 students, 99% are Hispanic and 91% economically disadvantaged. Fifty-eight percent are enrolled in bilingual and/or ESL programs.

The museum is a resource for families, educators, and volunteers, reaching 182,435 people last year through bilingual science exhibits, workshops, summer camps, school programs, and outreach. The museum frequently works in Las Colonias—densely populated, low-income communities along the border. LCM uses its small annual budget to provide its community with services ranging from childcare for shoppers at the nearby Mall del Norte to workshops on Mexican holidays that bring together both English and Spanish speakers. LCM’s role as a gathering place has earned it the trust of the community but stretched its resources and limited its ability to address science topics, including inquiry.

TexNET provides LCM with quality interactive science exhibits it has been unable to afford. Exhibit-based workshops will focus on infusing museum programs with science content, such as hands-on science for students in LCM’s after-school tutoring program. Many parents are not comfortable helping their children with schoolwork due to barriers of language or limited education, making the tutoring program a valuable resource. LCM contributes to and benefits from workshops on Spanish speakers and Hispanic audiences. TexNET workshops also tackle co-development of culturally and linguistically appropriate bilingual text for LCM’s on-site audience and for outreach at Las Colonias. Fort Worth is working with LCM to develop a Family Science Night and create stronger relationships with schools. The portability of some exhibits will allow Laredo, Fort Worth, and Exploratorium staff to reach Las Colonias—an important, growing audience that is not likely to visit museums.

“There are children who visit us from small pueblos in Mexico without schools. Their parents
might not read or write in Spanish or English and have trouble supporting their kids’ education.”
—Evelyn Smietana, former Executive Director