Project Collaboration
The Amache Alliance engages and supports a wide range of Amache preservation and educational projects.
For more real-time updates, join our new Facebook group: All Things Amache facebook.com/groups/809799359625587/
2024 Annual Amache Pilgrimage - May 18
Volunteer Set Up and Clean Up Day - May 17
The annual Amache Pilgrimage takes place on the Saturday before Memorial Day weekend, May 18, 2024, next year. Nikkeijin Kai of Colorado will provide details. Check Amache.org for pilgrimage details.
On Friday May 17th, join volunteers from the Amache Preservation Society, Amache Alliance, NPCA, CPI, DU Amache Project and others at Amache and in Granada.
Friday May 17th:
3:00pm Amache Site Tour (TBD)
6:00pm Meet at Granada Community Center for Amache presentations (TBD)
Sunday May 19th: Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Tour
If interested in volunteering and spending extra time on the Amache site, please contact us at amachealliance@gmail.com
Amache Preservation Society
Education, on site projects, tours, and maintenance
The Amache Preservation Society (APS) maintains the physical site of Amache (until formal National Historic Site establishment), manages the Amache museum in Granada, and is instrumental in its preservation.
The Granada High School society, established by Mr. John Hopper, consists of volunteer students. With the help of supporting organizations, the APS has renovated the cemetery, established the Amache Museum and research center, restored key Amache landmarks, including the water tower, a guard tower, honor roll kiosk, and barrack.
APS reaches out to the local communities and educates about Amache. The Amache Alliance helps maintain the Amache.org website, support on-site projects, and provides community support for their programs.
National Park Service
Amache National Historic Site Act (H.R. 2497 / S.1284)
Amache National Historic Site Transition
On March 18, 2022, the Amache National Historic Site Act was signed into law by President Joseph R. Biden, designating Amache National Historic Site as a new park in the National Park System.
The Amache National Historic Site Act (H.R.2497) authorizes the park to be established, and requires the NPS to meet certain conditions, including land acquisition, in order to be established. The National Park Service will work with the Town of Granada to acquire the land. The Amache Alliance is supporting the NPS team with historical information supporting the lands transition process and involved in the foundation document creation.
Parkplanning - Amache Special Resource Study (nps.gov)
Amache National Historic Site Foundation Document
We have quarterly meetings with the Park Service and special topic meetings supporting the transition process to establish the Amache National Historic Site.
Dept. of Interior Sec. Deb Haaland, Sen. Bennet, Rep. Neguse, NPS staff, and Tracy Coppola from the NPCA visiting during the 2022 Day of Rememberance.
National Parks Conservation Association
Amache National Historic Site Advocate
NPCA and partners are committed to creating a national park site that preserves the Amache incarceration camp, interprets the history under which it operated, and honors the people who were once imprisoned there based solely on their ethnicity.
The Alliance partnered with the NPCA and Senior Colorado National Parks Program Manager, Tracy Coppola, in support of the legislative bills. Amache National Historic Site Act (H.R. 2497) was signed into law by President Biden on March 18, 2022.
Collaboration with the two other National Historic Sites near Amache is a priority too. We are working with the Sand Creek Massacre descendants and Foundation on increasing awareness of each other's history.
Sonoma State University
Anthropological Studies Center
Amache Interpretation Master Plan
The Amache Alliance is working with Sonoma State providing stakeholder and Amache community input. Sonoma State University received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to revise and update the Amache Interpretation Master Plan. An updated plan for the site and museum will more fully integrate the needs, perspectives, and voices of a stakeholder community that has substantially grown since the last plan was completed in 2007.
Dana Ogo-Shew gathering public input at JANM in Los Angeles
Colorado Preservation Inc.
Barrack and Rec. Hall Interior Exhibits
Colorado Preservation, Inc. has received a NPS JACS grant to develop public exhibits for the reconstructed 12H barrack and 11F recreation hall. CPI Preservation Services Director Jane Daniels is working with Amache community groups for project input. The project team, including Amache Alliance Directors Dana Ogo Shew and April Kamp-Whittaker, will draft a conceptual framework and plans in early 2022.
CPI supports volunteer projects at Amache including an upcoming Aug 26, 2023, workshop in Granada, CO to begin making furniture for the barrack.
Katie Arntzen Colorado - State Historical Fund
Dr. Bonnie Clark - Univ. of Denver
April Kamp-Whittaker and Dana Ogo Shew
North Shore Productions and
Colorado Preservation Inc.
Amache Documentary Film & Educational Curriculum Project
Colorado Preservation, Inc., in a partnership with North Shore Productions in Portland, Oregon, will make a documentary film about Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in Amache during World War II. A 2021 National Park Service Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant provides the initial funding. The Amache Alliance is providing access to historical expertise and stakeholder community engagement.
Community Outreach and Education
The Amache Alliance works to educate all Americans about the forced evacuation, relocation, and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. The Amache Alliance works collaboratively with other organizations to highlight the lessons of Japanese American confinement and its relevance to the preservation of liberty and civil rights for all Americans today.
Partnership and collaboration included the following projects:
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JANM - USC Shinso Ito Center:
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Irei - National Monument for the WWII Japanese American Incarceration
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For Every Generation: Recovering and Sharing Family Histories
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Community advisor for Bible and Sutra project
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JANM: Sutra and Bible exhibit and book
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NJAHS: WRA Incarceree Farm Labor Teacher Education Project
USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture
Volunteer day organized by the Amache Alliance. Volunteers from the Amache Alliance, NPCA, Colorado Preservation Inc, History Colorado, NPS, and supporters has a great time building friendships.
Rec. Hall clean up on Volunteer Day. Supporting the Amache Preservation Society and preparing for Pilgrimage day.
Amache rose decided to bloom again on Pilgrimage day.
Volunteer day organized by the Amache Alliance. Volunteers from the Amache Alliance, NPCA, Colorado Preservation Inc, History Colorado, NPS, and supporters has a great time building friendships.