The National Park Service today announced $1,250,000 for 20 projects in 17 states and the District of Columbia for the survey and nomination of places and properties associated with groups that are underrepresented on the National Register of Historic Places (National Register). 

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.

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.