Urge Your Representatives to Sign-on to the Historic Preservation Fund Dear Colleague Letter
Help us make sure historic preservation is a priority in FY22 appropriations process! The appropriations process is getting underway in Congress and we need your help Urge your Representative to sign-on to the bipartisanFY22 House Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) Dear Colleague Letter in the House. The letter is being led by the co-chairs of the Historic Preservation Caucus, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) and requests $150 million in funding for the HPF, the same level Preservation Action advocated for during our Virtual Historic Preservation Advocacy Week and represents full funding for the HPF. The request includes significant increases for State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, and increases to critically important competitive grant programs. The letter will be submitted to the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee.
$60 million for State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs)
$24 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs)
$20 million for the Save America's Treasures grant program
$10 million for competitive grants for Historically Black Colleges and Universities
$9 million for the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization grants
$1 million for a competitive grant program to survey and document historic resources
$19 million for African American Civil Rights Initiative Competitive Grants
$7 million for the newly established competitive grants programs to preserve the sites and stories associated with securing civil rights for All Americans.
The letter also supports funding the semiquincentennial grant program to preserve historical sites commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the United States.
Congress Needs to Hear From Preservation Advocates
Preservation Action has made it easy for you take action. Easily edit and send a letter to your Representative today! If you have a personal contact in your Representative's Washington D.C. or District office, contact that person directly and urge them to sign-on to the FY22 Historic Preservation Fund Dear Colleague Letter being circulated by Reps. Blumenauer and Turner. If they don't handle Interior Appropriations please ask that they pass the message along to the Interior Appropriations staffer. The deadline for signatures is April 28th!
House National Parks Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Four Bills that Help Preserve Important Sites
This week the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands held a legislative hearing on four bills to preserve key historic sites across the country. Together these sites help to tell a more inclusive and complete story of America.
The New Philadelphia National Historical Park Act (H.R. 820) introduced by Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL) would recognize the first town platted and registered by an African American, Free Frank McWorter, in 1836 as a unit of the National Park Service.
The Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site Expansion Act (H.R. 920) introduced by Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) would expand the National Historic Site to also includes sites in South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Kansas, and Washington, DC that help to tell the story of the five legal cases that contributed to the landmark supreme court decision.
The Pullman National Historical Park Act (H.R. 2626) introduced by Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) would redesignate the sites in the Pullman neighborhood of Chicago that were significant in the American labor movement and African American culture in Chicago as a National Historical Park from a National Monument.
The Amache National Historic Site Act (H.R. 2497) introduced by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO), would establish the former Japanese American incarceration facility outside of Grenada, CO as unit of the National Park Service.
The committee heard from the legislation's sponsors and witnesses in support of these important bills. One stand out moment from the hearing came from Dr. Robert Fuchigami, a Amache camp survivor who provided powerful testimony in support of the Amache National Historic Site Act.
Preservation Action appreciates the committee's work on these crucial pieces of legislation that together would help to diversify our National Parks and tell a more complete American story. Learn more and watch the full hearing today!
National Preservation Partners Network Virtual Spring Retreat Kicks Off Next Week
The National Preservation Partners Network Spring Retreat kicks off next week. The event will be held virtually, running from April 27th-30th. Attendees will join colleagues from around the country for four days of learning and exchanging of ideas. Discuss national priorities, contribute to the shaping of the movement's future, compare notes with colleagues, and be inspired by moments of success during a pandemic year. This year's program has content geared to all staff of preservation organizations, not just leadership, so all staff are encouraged to participate.
The program includes a moderated discussion on federal policy and the Biden administration, conversations about having a happy, healthy non-profit, storytelling, and a keynote address from Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Check out the schedule to learn more!
Preservation Action is the only national non-profit dedicated exclusively to lobbying for the best preservation policies at the federal level. We seek to make historic preservation a national priority by advocating to all branches of government through a grassroots constituency empowered with information and training.
