FY2023 Historic Preservation Fund- African American Civil Rights- History Grants | P23AS00471

Opportunity Information: Apply for P23AS00471

The FY2023 Historic Preservation Fund African American Civil Rights History Grants (opportunity number P23AS00471) is a competitive grant program run by the National Park Service (NPS) through its African American Civil Rights Grant Program (AACR). Its central purpose is to support projects that document, interpret, and preserve the places and stories connected to the long struggle for African American civil rights, with the program framing that history broadly from the era of the transatlantic slave trade through later periods and movements for equal rights. In practice, this funding is meant to help communities and organizations research and tell fuller, better-supported histories and strengthen the stewardship of related historic resources, especially where important narratives have been overlooked or under-documented.

This specific announcement, P23AS00471, is focused on history-oriented work rather than bricks-and-mortar rehabilitation. Projects that fit here include survey and planning efforts, historical research and documentation, interpretation and education initiatives, and collections conservation activities. The program uses the NPS publication Civil Rights in America: A Framework for Identifying Significant Sites as a guiding reference for evaluating whether proposed topics, properties, and outcomes align with the program intent. That means applicants should be prepared to clearly connect their project to civil rights significance and explain how the work will expand knowledge, improve interpretation, or strengthen long-term preservation planning for relevant sites, stories, or collections.

A key detail is that there are two separate FY2023 AACR announcements and applicants have to choose the one that matches their work. P23AS00472 is the companion opportunity for physical preservation of historic sites only, while P23AS00471 (this one) is for historical research, documentation, survey work, and nomination-related activities. If a project is primarily about repairing, restoring, or physically preserving a property, it belongs under P23AS00472; if it is primarily about research products, documentation, interpretive deliverables, surveys, planning, or conserving collections, it belongs under P23AS00471.

Funding for the overall AACR program in FY2023 is supported by Public Law 117-328, which provides $24,000,000 for AACR grants. Awards under this history-grants announcement have an upper limit (award ceiling) of $75,000 per grant. The grants are awarded through a competitive process, and an important benefit is that they do not require a non-federal match, which can make the program more accessible to smaller organizations, local governments, and community-based groups that may not have large pools of fundraising capacity.

Eligibility is broad and includes multiple levels of government and a wide range of nonprofit and educational entities. Eligible applicants include state governments; local governments such as counties, cities, townships, and special districts; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status; nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status (as specified in the opportunity); and Tribal entities, including federally recognized Tribal governments and other Native American tribal organizations. The program also recognizes eligibility for Federally Recognized Indian Tribes, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiian Organizations as defined by 54 USC 300300. One clear restriction is that grants are not available for sites or collections owned by the National Park Service itself, so applicants need to ensure the resources they are working on are not NPS-owned.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant (not a formula program) administered by the National Park Service under CFDA 15.904, categorized under arts, humanities, and related fields. For this FY2023 cycle, the original closing date listed is November 1, 2023, and the opportunity was created on July 7, 2023. Overall, the program is designed to help applicants produce concrete public-facing and preservation-supporting outcomes, such as better historical documentation, stronger interpretive materials and educational content, more complete surveys and planning tools, and improved conservation of historically significant collections tied to African American civil rights history.

• The National Park Service in the arts, humanities, other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY2023 Historic Preservation Fund- African American Civil Rights- History Grants" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.904.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-07-07.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-11-01. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $75,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for P23AS00471

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