Lilly Endowment Inc. is donating $20 million to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and its National Fund for Sacred Places.
The fund’s website says the resources will be used to assist “historic Black churches and congregations to reimagine, redesign, and redeploy historic preservation to address the institutions’ needs and the cultural assets and stories they steward. Preserving Black Churches, a new $20 million initiative, offers a national strategy for historic Black churches that are both stewarded by active congregations and being repurposed for new uses in local communities.”
“The centerpiece of Black communities starts with the Black church,” Leggs told ABC News. “Black churches are exceptionally important in American democracy, not only for their legacy in civil and human rights but also for their role in uplifting civic identity and community empowerment.”
Historic Black churches in the St. Louis area are invited to apply for up to $250,000 in a grant. The National Fund for Sacred Places is accepting letters of intent from congregations seeking funding for significant capital projects. Applications must be received by March 7, 2022.
For information on the application process, visit www.fundforsacredplaces.org/apply.
According to the Heritage Action Fund the program will also:
-Establish a new national grant fund to provide direct funding to Black churches for capital, staffing, and operations
-Create a Rapid Response and Emergency Grant Fund to address imminent threats to Black churches
-Provide targeted assistance and support to Black churches serving as sites of conscience, memory, justice, and reconciliation
-Amplify historic Black churches through digital documentation, storytelling, and media relations
“No pillar of the African American community has been more central to its history, identity, and social justice vision than the ‘Black Church,” Henry Louis Gates, Jr., professor, filmmaker, and Preserving Black Churches lead advisor, said.
Brent Leggs, the senior vice president and executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, said many Black churches are community centers, historical landmarks and safe havens.
“The centerpiece of Black communities starts with the Black church,” Leggs told ABC News. “Black churches are exceptionally important in American democracy, not only for their legacy in civil and human rights but also for their role in uplifting civic identity and community empowerment.”
St. James AME Church in Mayfield, Kentucky, will receive $100,000 as one of the first Rapid Response and Emergency Grant recipients. The church, founded in 1868, was destroyed last month in a tornado that killed more than 20 people.
“Black history is American history, and it is our responsibility to cultivate spaces to engage with it,” the website stated. “We must ensure that everyone has the opportunity to draw inspiration and wisdom from African American historic places.”