Raices Cultural Center

What Raices Cultural Center does

Raíces Cultural Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2008 and based in Highland Park, New Jersey (20 River Road) by co-founders Francisco G. Gómez and Nicole Wines. The organization preserves and shares Caribbean cultural roots through three interconnected program areas: cultural arts (Drum, Song & Dance classes and the intergenerational Raíces Caribeñas Folkloric Ensemble), community history (oral history projects and digital archives), and EcoCulture (sustainable living programming). Programming is delivered free of charge to community members of all ages, with explicit offerings for older adults through the Creative Aging Initiative and for youth and families through Raícitas Little Roots classes. It also operates the Cultural Arts Collective, a network of musicians, artists, and culture bearers collaborating on traditional arts and humanities projects.

The core technology footprint is the Raíces Digital Archive, an Omeka-based online archive at archive.raicesculturalcenter.org that houses oral history collections, digital exhibits, and multimedia documentation across the Family Ties: Stories That Inspire, Ancestral Herbal Narratives, Raíces Roots Music Exhibits, and Women in Culture collections. In October 2024, the organization was accepted into the Internet Archive Community Webs program, adding web archiving and digital preservation tooling supported by the Mellon Foundation. Sub-brands include the Raíces Digital Archive, the Raíces Roots Music Exhibit Series, and the Women in Culture Collection. Two wholly owned operating arms are housed under the center: the Raíces Cultural Arts Collective and the Raíces Caribeñas Folkloric Ensemble.

The business model is donation- and grant-funded. Revenue streams are tax-deductible individual donations plus project, operating, and capacity-building grants from the New Jersey Arts & Culture Renewal Fund (three rounds including Phase 7 in February 2024 and Phase 9 in January 2025), the New Jersey Council for the Humanities (Action Grant 2024, Inclusive History 2023, prior Community History support), the New Jersey State Council on the Arts (Creative Aging Initiative 2024; Folk and Traditional Arts Project Award 2025), Middlesex County (Technical Assistance Grant 2024), and the New Jersey Historical Commission. The go-to-market is community-led and event-driven, anchored in the Highland Park Community Center with regional outreach through performances and workshops on request. The team is small (1-10 employees) and operations are concentrated in New Jersey with global digital access via the online archive.

Name

Raices Cultural Center

Legal name

Raíces Cultural Center

Website

https://raicesculturalcenter.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Raíces Cultural Center is a Highland Park, NJ nonprofit founded in 2008 that preserves Caribbean cultural roots through free arts, oral history, and ecology programming for community members of all ages in the New Jersey region.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Arts Education and Heritage Preservation

NAICS

Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Cultural Centers & Community Cultural Organizations (BPAGAHAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Arts Education & Community Arts Programs (BPAGAHAC), Indigenous, Ethnic & Folk Arts/Heritage Organizations (BPAGAHAI), Cultural Festivals & Events Organizations (BPAGAHAG)

Keywords

• Cultural arts education
• Community history preservation
• Caribbean folkloric arts
• Oral history documentation
• Digital archive collections

Headquarters

HQ city

Highland Park

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Contributions: Tax-deductible donations from individual supporters; organization relies on donations and grants to operate
2. Grant Funding: Multiple grants from government and private foundations including NJ Arts & Culture Renewal Fund, NJ Council for the Humanities, Middlesex County, New Jersey State Council on the Arts

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Raíces Cultural Center is a nonprofit cultural organization offering free community programs in Caribbean performing arts, oral history documentation, and ecological sustainability. Its core offerings include Drum, Song & Dance Classes, the Raíces Caribeñas Folkloric Ensemble, the Cultural Arts Collective network, and digital archive projects such as Family Ties, Ancestral Herbal Narratives, and Roots Music Exhibits, alongside EcoCulture programming on sustainable living practices.

Product overview

Raíces Cultural Center is a nonprofit cultural organization offering a portfolio of interconnected programs in cultural arts, community history, and eco-culture. The core offerings include Drum, Song & Dance Classes, the Raíces Caríbeñas Folkloric Ensemble (the performing arm), and the Cultural Arts Collective (a broader artist network). The Community History Program encompasses the Raíces Digital Archive, Family Ties oral history project, Ancestral Herbal Narratives, and the Raíces Roots Music Exhibits—all digital-first collections. EcoCulture Projects round out the programming with sustainable living advocacy. The organization preserves and shares cultural roots through performances, classes, digital archives, oral histories, and community events.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Raíces Digital Archive: Online digital archive containing oral history collections, photographs, videos, and documents related to Caribbean cultural heritage, folkloric music, and community history.
• Raíces Roots Music Exhibit Series
• Women in Culture Collection

Products and services

• Drum, Song & Dance Classes Free community classes introducing traditional and modern Caribbean performing arts to participants of all ages, with instruction in drumming, singing, and dance. Open to community members in the Highland Park, NJ region.
• Raíces Caribeñas Folkloric Ensemble An intergenerational student ensemble that preserves and educates through performance of Caribbean roots music, serving as the organization's performing ensemble and available for presentations at schools, festivals, and community events by request.
• Cultural Arts Collective A network of musicians and artists working to preserve cultural, traditional and folkloric art forms, providing members with opportunities to share, promote, and form collaborations on traditional arts, public history, and humanities projects.
• Raíces Digital Archive Website-based digital archive housing oral history interviews, digital exhibits, and multimedia collections documenting folkloric arts, community history, and cultural traditions. Publicly accessible online for researchers, community members, and culture bearers.
• Family Ties: Stories That Inspire Community history project that collects, preserves, and shares untold and undertold family stories and histories from a diversity of cultures through oral history interviews and digital exhibits. Developed in partnership with the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.
• Ancestral Herbal Narratives Digital archive oral history collection documenting stories, narratives, histories, and memories of herbalists and healers from diverse cultural backgrounds and healing traditions. Includes a project portal with digital exhibits.
• Raíces Roots Music Exhibits Digital exhibits and collections exploring stories and histories of artists and culture bearers who practice and preserve traditional art forms and work to preserve the cultural arts. Used as a learning resource by schools and researchers.
• EcoCulture Projects Programming and advocacy that fosters exploration, study, and application of ecological, sustainable, and culturally relevant green-living practices for individuals, families, and communities.
• Creative Aging Initiative Weekly Caribbean Drum, Song and Dance classes for senior community members, offered free of cost at Highland Park Community Center in partnership with the Borough of Highland Park and Highland Park Department of Aging.

Quantifiable outcome

• 17+ years of continuous community programming since 2008
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Internet Archive Community Webs ProgramcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2024Raíces accepted as partner in Internet Archive's Community Webs program providing support and tools for digital preservation and web archiving. Program began as IMLS and Internet Archive funded initiative, now supported by Mellon Foundation, with over 200 cultural heritage organization participants.
• New Jersey Council for the Humanities (NJCH)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 August 2024NJCH awarded Raíces an Action Grant to support Family Ties: Stories That Inspire digital exhibits and project portal. Raíces has received multiple grants from NJCH including Community History program support and Inclusive History grants. NJCH provides technical assistance and speaking opportunities for humanities organizations.
• Borough of Highland Park / Highland Park Department of AgingcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2024Growing partnership to host Creative Aging Initiative at Highland Park Community Center. Weekly Caribbean Drum, Song and Dance classes for seniors offered free of cost.
• Galleries at Kean UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRaíces Caribeñas Folkloric Ensemble has performed at Galleries at Kean University; photo credits on website attributed to Galleries at Kean
• HerbalicityminorOthersBusiness sponsor of Raíces Cultural Center

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• City Lore: NYC-based cultural organization documenting and presenting grassroots arts, folk traditions, and community history. Strongly comparable to Raíces in combining folk arts programming, oral history documentation, and digital archive work, including the Smithsonian-linked City Lore Center for Folklife.
• Center for Traditional Music and Dance: NYC-based nonprofit supporting immigrant and refugee community-based traditional music and dance. Closely aligned mission — preserving traditional/folkloric performing arts, intergenerational ensembles, and grant-funded cultural programs — operating at a similar small nonprofit scale.
• El Museo del Barrio: NYC museum focused on Caribbean and Latin American art and cultural heritage. Directly comparable in preserving Caribbean/Latino cultural roots through exhibitions, education, and community programming; substantially larger and more established.
• Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture: Bronx-based cultural center at Hostos Community College presenting Caribbean, Latin American, and African diaspora performing arts and community programming. Comparable mission as a multi-disciplinary cultural institution serving a Caribbean/immigrant community.
• Pregones Theater / Puerto Rican Traveling Theater: Bronx-based Latino performing arts and theater company producing work rooted in Caribbean/Puerto Rican culture. Comparable community-rooted performing arts and cultural storytelling model with strong NJ/NYC regional focus.
• Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute: NYC-based nonprofit cultural center dedicated to Caribbean and African diaspora arts, history, and culture. Highly comparable mission and programming model — community-rooted cultural programming, oral history/digital preservation, and grant-funded nonprofit structure — but operating at significantly larger scale in NYC.

Broad incumbents

• Dance/NYC: NYC-based service organization supporting the broader dance ecosystem with research, advocacy, and grantmaking. Comparable as a performing-arts-focused cultural nonprofit serving the tri-state region, but operating as a sector-wide support organization rather than a single community-rooted ensemble.
• National Guild for Community Arts Education: National service and advocacy organization for community-based arts education providers. Comparable in supporting community-rooted arts education programming and connecting small cultural nonprofits to funders and capacity-building resources.

Others

• Internet Archive (Community Webs Program): Network-level peer/infrastructure partner through which Raíces conducts digital preservation. Not a competitor, but the program connects Raíces to 200+ peer cultural heritage organizations and provides shared tooling that is core to its digital archive.

Emerging players

• Caribbean American Cultural Arts Foundation: Smaller-scale Caribbean-American cultural arts organization with grant-funded programming similar to Raíces. Partial overlap on Caribbean folkloric arts and diaspora community programming, though less developed in digital archiving.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/raicescc
• YouTubevimeo.com/raicesculturalcenter
• Facebookfacebook.com/RaicesCulturalCenter
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/raices-cultural-center
• Instagraminstagram.com/raicesculturalcenter

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Raices Cultural Center