The National Trust Preservation Fund, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s small dollar grant program, has been providing catalytic funding to organizations across the country for over 50 years.

In the October 2021 round, the National Trust received 51 eligible applications and awarded a total of $186,850 in grants to 31 organizations in 17 states and the District of Columbia. Read more about these projects below, and learn how you can apply to our February 1 grant round here and sign up for email reminders about our grant programs here. 

October 2021 National Trust Preservation Fund Grant Recipients

Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation | Pima and Santa Cruz Counties, Arizona

$15,500 for the development of a feasibility study of UNESCO World Heritage Site Designation for the Mission Route of Padre Kino in Southern Arizona.

Poston Community Alliance | Parker, Arizona
 

The Poston Elementary School Site I is one of several sites across the country where thousands of Japanese Americans were incarcerated following the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The adobe school buildings on-site were built by Japanese Americans in 1943, and the design and construction processes were supervised by the Office of Indian Affairs. After the Japanese Americans departed in 1945, these adobe classrooms were used by Native American students. A $5,000 grant was awarded to Poston Community Alliance for the creation of an online multimedia educational program describing the National Historic Landmark Poston Elementary School Site I’s unique intersectional history involving the Japanese American and Native American communities.

Cinefemme | Luther, Oklahoma and Los Angeles, California

$5,000 to support filming and screening events for the women's history documentary series Route 66 Women, which explores how women overcame gender discrimination and segregation to build fulfilling lives along Route 66. 

Learn more about how the National Preservation Fund is supporting projects related to women's history.

History Colorado | Conejos County, Colorado

$10,000 to implement a revitalization management plan for Pike’s Stockage National Historic Landmark, the site where in 1807, explorer Zebulon Pike raised the American flag over what was then Spanish territory.

Historic Denver, Inc. | Denver, Colorado

$5,000 to prepare a local historic district application for the 19th and early 20th century working-class neighborhood Elyria neighborhood to protect its history and culture.

Historic Routt County | Steamboat Springs, Colorado

$2,250 to document the historic homes that comprised the mining town of Mount Harris, Colorado, which in 1958, was dismantled and auctioned off in its entirety following the closure of the mines.

DC Preservation League | Washington, District of Columbia

$5,000 to produce videos showcasing the winners of the DC Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation.

Docomomo Hawaii | Kaneohe, Hawaii

$5,000 for the production of educational booklets covering the modernist topics of breezeblocks, a rare decorative element used on buildings in Hawaii during the 1950s and 60s, and Alfred Yee, a prominent structural engineer in Hawaii who was known for his expertise in using precast, prestressed concrete for buildings.

Hawaiian Islands Land Trust | Honolulu , Hawaii

$4,000 to support a project assessment and schematic plans for the restoration of the C.W. Dickey House at Waihee Coastal Dunes & Wetlands Refuge for use as a cultural education center.

The Association for the Liberty Theatre of Eunice | Eunice, Louisiana

$15,000 for a feasibility study for the restoration of the 1924 Liberty Theatre, a place where the local cultural traditions of the Cajun community have been honored for decades.

Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE | New Bedford, Massachusetts

$10,000 to hire staff to increase community outreach efforts and develop community-informed neighborhood planning strategies for affordable housing and arts and culture-focused community spaces in the historic South End neighborhood.

Captain Robert Bennet Forbes House Museum | Milton, Massachusetts

$4,400 to develop a case statement and brochure for the restoration of the Isaiah Rogers Carriage House (1833) and Peabody and Stearns Barn (1887) at the Captain Robert Bennet Forbes House Museum site.

Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery | Cambridge, Massachusetts

$3,000 to complete a conditions assessment to inform the preservation of the ornate cast iron fence at the Scots’ Charitable Society lot at Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Westport Historical Society | Westport, Massachusetts

$2,500 to support the development of the Westport Heritage Map, a brochure to promote heritage tourism that will detail the places of significance to Native Americans, Quakers, African Americans, and more in the small coastal town.

Soo Theatre Project Inc. | Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan

$5,000 for architectural design services to plan for the restoration of the historic Soo Theatre’s storefronts.

Rethos | St. Paul, Minnesota

$5,000 to host ten Racism in Real Estate classes, which will explore structural racism and the racial wealth gap as it applies to housing, covering how underlying inequities create and transform our historic built environment.

The Frank Lloyd Wright House in Ebsworth Park | St. Louis, Missouri

$5,000 to develop a historic preservation plan for the Frank Lloyd Wright House in Ebsworth Park.

Camden County Historical Society | Camden, New Jersey

$5,000 to hire a fundraising consultant for the restoration of the Benjamin Cooper Tavern (1734), which the British used as a headquarters to forage for supplies during the Revolutionary War.

Greater Syracuse Land Bank | Syracuse, New York

$5,000 to develop landscape designs for South Presbyterian Church, which was a sanctuary for African Americans escaping discrimination in the south and is one of the few surviving African American landmarks left in the area.

Historic Huguenot Street | New Paltz, New York

$5,000 to complete a cultural resource survey for the Bevier-Elting House, a key structure located within Historic Huguenot Street’s 10-ace National Historic Landmark District.

Lost Province Center for the Cultural Arts | Lansing, North Carolina

$5,000 to support salaries of instructors and artists-in-residence who are teaching traditional trades courses at the Lansing School.

North Carolina Main Street Partners | Raleigh, North Carolina

$5,000 to support speaker fees for the 2022 North Carolina Main Street Conference.

Holt's Chapel Community Center, Inc | Oriental, North Carolina

$5,000 to host four community workshops focused on African American traditions of art, music, and dance at the historic Rosenwald School turned community center.

National Mary Potter Club, Inc |Oxford, North Carolina

$5,000 for professional design services for the restoration of the Mary Potter School, a historic African American secondary school founded by Dr. George Shaw and named after his friend who helped him establish the school.

Bosco-Milligan Foundation | Portland, Oregon

$5,000 to redesign the organization’s website to be a platform to engage a broader, more diverse population in preservation outreach and education.

Drayton Hall Preservation Trust | Charleston, South Carolina

$5,000 to conduct an aerial Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) survey of the Ashley River Historic District to further research and regional conservation.

Friends of the Texas Historical Commission | Austin, Texas

$5,000 to support the Preservation Scholars Program, an eight-week paid summer internship which aims to increase the ethnic and cultural diversity among historic preservation professionals.

Vision Historic Preservation Foundation | Rockdale, Texas

$5,000 to complete a historic structures report and feasibility study for the 1895 Rockdale City Hall building, which will be restored to help revitalize downtown Rockdale.

The Conservation Society of San Antonio | San Antonio, Texas

$10,000 to create a context statement and survey methodology to address the deficit in landmarks celebrating the achievements of African-Americans in San Antonio. 

American Battlefield Trust | Henrico County, Virginia

$10,000 to study a range of battlefields within eastern Henrico County that are associated with the United States Colored Troops and identify preservation opportunities and engage stakeholders and the public in preservation planning and advocacy efforts.

Gig Harbor BoatShop | Gig Harbor, Washington

$4,900 to collect and present images, video, oral histories, and other cultural resources pertaining to the now-deconstructed F/V AVALON, a 1920s-era purse seiner which is significant to Pacific Northwest maritime history and culture.

The Historic Trust | Vancouver, Washington

Providence Academy is one of 29 institutions, schools, and hospitals founded and designed by Mother Joseph of the Scared Heart during her 45 years of service to the Sisters of Providence and in communities in and beyond the Northwest. The Academy, considered Mother Joseph's most important work, is one of only two remaining buildings that showcase her design and construction expertise, which were rare skills for a woman of her time.

After decades of housing orphans and serving as a place for educational opportunities for them and other students, the Academy was serving solely as a school when closed in 1966. Now owned and operated by the Historic Trust, the Academy functions as office and community event space, and offers free public tours and interpretive exhibits. A $4,300 grant from the National Trust will inform recommendations for the interior rehabilitation of Providence Academy and help develop a fundraising plan to carry out the work.

Lizzy Barringer is the associate manager, grants & awards, at the National Trust for Historic Preservation.