Ugak Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska / NOAA
The National Park Service announced this week that it is allocating $1.25 million to support 20 projects across 17 states and Washington, D.C. These projects aim to identify and nominate sites and properties linked to historically underrepresented groups for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
Examples of this year’s grants include funding for:
- A National Register nomination for the ILZRO House in Foster, Rhode Island, which will uncover and recognize the little-known history of design for the disabled community, also known as Disability Design.
- A survey and National Register nomination for the Eagle Harbor ancestral community in Ugak Bay, Alaska, to preserve and share the history of the Alutiiq/Sugpiaq, the Indigenous people of Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago.
- A survey of historic resources and National Register nominations related to Hispanic heritage in Kansas City, Missouri.
- A survey and National Register nomination in Detroit, Michigan, related to the architecture of Nathan Johnson, an important African American modernist architect.
Created by Congress in 2014, the Underrepresented Communities Grant Program has provided $8.25 million to State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, Certified Local Governments, and nonprofit organizations to expand the National Register of Historic Places through historic surveys and nominations.
For more information about the Underrepresented Communities Grant Program, please visit http://go.nps.gov/urc. Funding for fiscal year 2025 is dependent on Congressional appropriations.
Underrepresented Communities Grant Awards
| Location | Project | Grantee | Award |
| Alabama | Survey and National Register District Nominations for Mobile Heights and Carver Park | City of Montgomery | $75,000 |
| Alaska | Survey and National Register Nominations for Eagle Harbor | Alutiiq Heritage Foundation | $74,940 |
| California | Survey and National Register District Nomination for Leimert Park | The Los Angeles Conservancy | $75,000 |
| California | Redevelopment Era Community History Project and National Register Nomination | City and County of San Francisco | $75,000 |
| Colorado | Colorado Statewide African American Travel Resources National Register Nominations Project | The State Historical Society of Colorado | $74,250 |
| District of Columbia | Multiple Property Documentation Form and National Register Nominations of Washington, DC LGBTQ+ Resources | DC Preservation League | $75,000 |
| Florida | Deuces Neighborhood Survey and National Register Nomination | City of St. Petersburg | $75,000 |
| Georgia | National Register Nomination for Good Shepherd Episcopal School and Church | Episcopal Diocese of Georgia | $20,250 |
| Massachusetts | National Register Nominations for Ashley House and Walker Burial Ground | Massachusetts Historical Commission | $29,950 |
| Michigan | Survey and National Register Nominations for the Architecture of Nathan Johnson | Michigan Strategic Fund | $75,000 |
| Mississippi | Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Multiple Site Documentation and National Register Nomination | Emmett Till Interpretive Center | $75,000 |
| Missouri | Multiple Property Documentation and National Register Nomination for Hispanic Heritage in Kansas City | City of Kansas City, MO | $45,000 |
| New York | National Historic Landmark Nomination for Bayard Rustin Residence | Fund for the City of New York, Inc. | $32,000 |
| North Carolina | East Winston Survey and Mars Hill Baptist Church National Register Amendment | City of Winston-Salem | $75,000 |
| Ohio | Survey and National Register Nominations for African American Resources | Ohio Historical Society | $75,000 |
| Rhode Island | ILZRO House National Register Nomination | Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission | $19,000 |
| Rhode Island | Providence LGBTQ+ Survey and National Register Nomination | Providence Preservation Society | $74,692 |
| Tennessee | South Memphis Historic Sites National Register Nominations | Historic Clayborn Temple | $54,918 |
| Texas | Southeast Denton Historic Resource Survey and National Register Nomination | City of Denton | $75,000 |
| Virginia | Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Virginia Survey and National Register Nomination | Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Historic Resources | $75,000 |
| 17 States plus Washington, DC | Total Funded | $1,250,000 | |
The grants are supported through the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), which was authorized at $150 million per year through fiscal year 2024 and has provided more than $2 billion in historic preservation grants to states, Tribes, local governments, and nonprofit organizations since its creation in 1977. HPF funds may be appropriated by Congress to support a variety of historic preservation projects to help preserve the nation’s cultural resources.
The HPF, which uses revenue from federal offshore oil and gas leases, supports a broad range of preservation projects without spending tax dollars. The intent behind the HPF is to mitigate the loss of nonrenewable resources through the preservation of other irreplaceable resources.
HPF grant programs managed by NPS fund preservation of America’s premier cultural resources and historic places in underrepresented communities, rural areas, and historically black colleges and universities, as well as sites key to the representation of Tribal heritage, African American civil rights, the history of equal rights in America, and the nation’s founding.
For more information about NPS historic preservation programs and grants, please visit go.nps.gov/grants.
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