DOGE terminates grant for Bay Area museum that won national award: 'We are scrambling'

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- As the federal government moves to eliminate grant funding to museums and libraries across the country, an East Bay museum that has been key for students' education has become the latest victim.

It's the land and house that takes you back in time to the 1820s. The Peralta Hacienda Historical Park gives visitors a glimpse into a family that changed the East Bay.

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The Peraltas were a family that came on the Juan Bautista de Anza expedition of 1776.

"All the way from Northern Mexico, which is now Sonora, Mexico, to populate and hold Alta California for the Spanish empire," said Holly Alonso, Chief Curator for the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park.

The Peraltas were granted 45,000 acres of East Bay land, including what is now Oakland, Berkeley and parts of San Leandro. They brought with them animals and food that transformed this region.

"They brought herds of cattle that changed the grass lands of California. They brought all kinds of cultivation that became a cash crop of our state. Things like lemons, grapes, all the things that California grows almonds that weren't here before the Peralta's came on the onset expedition," said Alonso.

Over 40,000 people visit this museum every year, the majority are students on field trips.

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"We teach them about the colonizers and when we go from Antonio Peralta speaking to the colonizers, that is when we transition into teaching them about the Native Americans. The Ohlone Tribe," said Deonte Noble, Director of the Waterkeepers Program at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park.

Recently, the museum was hit by a letter from the federal government terminating their grant of $250,000, effective April 8.

"It was still a blow," said Miguel Lopez, Executive Director at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park.

These cuts are part of the national termination of grants by DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency. The cut compounded another loss -- the city of Oakland cut funding to the museum just weeks earlier.

"We have lost funding for our cultural program; we lost funding for our park. We are losing funding federally to continue our field trip program here, as well as new exhibitions of the Ohlone people. Like a lot of organizations in the city, we are scrambling, we are trying to figure out how to fill that gap," said Lopez.

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It's a tough reality for the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, which won the prestigious national medal for museum and library services in 2017.

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, along with other members of Congress, sent a letter to the Trump administration demanding the funds be restored at multiple places.

"The only way that funding will be restored is if our voices are loud, if our litigation and legislation activities are swift and that we don't back down. I'm not in any way for any moment, any second going to take the attacks on my constituents here lightly," said Congresswoman Simon.

Between the city and the federal government, the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park is set to lose over $270,000. The museum is working to get funding from private donors and add more field trips to stay afloat all in hopes to continue providing cultural services to this community.