PBBI-Registering Stories, Creating Narratives
When the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) at Fresno State launched in February 2019, its founders envisioned a living bridge: connecting students, scholars, and community members in California’s Central Valley with the Portuguese-speaking world. Over these years, PBBI has grown into a hub for culture, language, memory, creative expression, and transnational dialogue.
Now, in 2025, we stand at an exciting new threshold. We ask for your partnership to expand horizons and deepen connections across generations
Building Opportunities for Students
- Exchange and immersion: We deepen our collaboration with the University of the Azores, expanding scholarship support, short-term exchanges, and faculty-led study trips so students can experience Portuguese and Azorean life firsthand.
- Expanded language and culture: We reinforce Fresno State’s Portuguese language offerings, supporting the growth of two minors in Portuguese, and host visiting Portuguese-speaking scholars, poets, and artists.
Literary and Cultural Platforms
- Bruma Publications, as the publishing arm of PBBI, furthers bilingual and translated works—including diaspora memoirs, poetry, essays, and critical studies—bringing them into the academic and public spheres.
- Novidades & Filamentos: Our online platforms remain vital meeting places for literary, artistic, and critical voices. In 2025, we plan to publish themed issues, collaborative translations, and community-driven features that connect the Central Valley with Lusophone worlds.
Remembering, Recording, Sharing
- Oral History Program: We’ll continue to record new voices from the Portuguese-American community, train students in oral-history methodology, and archive the interviews in the Henry Madden Library.
- Documentary storytelling & public access: We plan to produce short documentaries, podcasts, and multimedia narratives drawn from our archive. These will be shared through YouTube, community screenings, and partner venues so that our shared stories resonate beyond academia.
Community Engagement & Leadership
- Partnerships & programming: PBBI continues collaborations with the California Portuguese-American Coalition via the Portuguese-American Leadership Academy, nurturing leadership, civic engagement, and cultural pride.
- Cultural events & series: In 2025, we will host the Cátedra Natália Correia, the Alfred Lewis Bilingual Reading Series, the Cagarro Colloquium, and more public lectures, poetry readings, community panels, and art exhibits—open to students and community alike.
What Your Support Makes Possible
Your generosity fuels:
- Student scholarships and exchange stipends
- Hosting scholars, panelists, conferences, and symposia
- Publication costs (editing, design, printing) for bilingual and translated books
- Technical infrastructure and web support for Novidades & Filamentos
- Equipment, transcription, and preservation for the oral-history archive
- Media production (film, podcast, visual narrative) and public presentation events
- Community programming, lecture series, and partnered events
By donating, you help connect generations, build bridges across communities and continents, and ensure that the Portuguese-speaking world enriches the lives of all students and families in the Central Valley.
Together, we move forward under the banner: PBBI- Expanding Horizons, Connecting Generations. Will you join us in this journey?
$25
Friend
As a Friend, your gift can help us preserve the voices that shape our shared story. It supports the Portuguese Oral History Project — from recording to archiving — ensuring that the memories of the Azorean and Portuguese American experiences remain accessible to future generations.
$50
Supporter
As a Supporter, your contribution can help us expand student and community connections. Your gift strengthens outreach with Portuguese-American organizations, allowing Fresno State students to engage directly with the community through oral history, cultural discovery, and dialogue.
$100
Patron
As a Patron, your generosity nurtures both learning and creativity. You can help provide our students with access to Bruma Publications’ bilingual books, bringing Azorean and Portuguese voices into classrooms and community spaces, while deepening their engagement with the Portuguese-American experience.
$250
Pillar
As a Pillar, your support can sustain our most vibrant cultural experiences — from the Portuguese Language Youth Day at Fresno State, which welcomes students from across California, to lectures and artistic events that connect our Valley to the Lusophone world.
$500
Benefactor
As a Benefactor, you can help expand horizons through our conferences, publications, and community initiatives. Your donation brings together scholars, students, and artists to explore Portuguese and Azorean culture, creating shared learning experiences across our multicultural Valley.
$1,000
Legacy
As a Legacy Donor, your gift ensures that our bridges continue to grow — through translations, publications, digital platforms, and cultural exchanges. You can help us bring the Azores and Portugal to Fresno State, sustain Novidades and Filamentos, and offer translated books to students free of charge. Your support connects generations and keeps the Portuguese voice alive on the West Coast.
