Civil Rights Grants

The Montgomery, Alabama bus on which Rosa Parks was riding prior to her arrest in December 1955. Conservation of this bus was funded by a grant from the National Park Service.

The National Park Service (NPS) provides grants to local communities to help document, interpret, and preserve sites and stories related to civil rights. Many of these grants are competitive which means that an organization will submit an application that is reviewed and scored to determine if it will receive funding. Information about various grant programs will be found on NPS websites but the actual announcement of applications and submission of applications will take place through Grants.gov. Preparing and submitting an application takes time, so make sure to start investigating how to apply early.

African American Civil Rights Grants

African American Civil Rights (AACR) grants fund a broad range of planning, development, and research projects for historic sites including: survey, inventory, documentation, interpretation, education, architectural services, historic structure reports, preservation plans, and "bricks and mortar" repair. Grant projects are split into two categories: preservation projects and history projects. Preservation project grants are for the repair of historic properties. History project grants are for more interpretive work such as exhibit design or historical research. This competitive grant program provides grants to states, tribes, local governments (including Certified Local Governments), and nonprofits. Non-federal matching share is not required.

Visit the Historic Preservation Fund website to apply for an African American Civil Rights grant.

Other NPS Grant Programs Connected to Civil Rights

The National Park Service administers several other grant programs that broadly support important civil rights stories and places throughout the United States including the Save America's Treasures program, the History of Equal Rights program, the HBCU program, and the Underrepresented Communities program.

Each program will have its own application cycle and requirements; however, taken together, they all support documentation and preservation of important sites to the struggle for civil rights.

Grants for Civil Rights Projects

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  AACR

  African American Civil Rights Grants

  Grants to document, interpret, and preserve the sites and stories related to the African American struggle to gain equal rights

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  SAT

  Save America's Treasures Grants

  Funding for bricks and mortar work and/or conservation work on nationally significant artifacts and historic sites

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  HER

  History of Equal Rights Grants

  Grants that aim to preserve sites related to the struggle of all people to achieve equal rights in America

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  HBCU

  HBCU Grants

  Grants to restore structures on Historically Black Colleges & Universities campuses considered to be the most historically significant

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  URC

  Underrepresented Communities Grants

  Grants to increase the number of listings in the National Register of Historic Places associated with underrepresented communities