After months of gridlock and a potential government shutdown, federal legislators reached a deal on Monday, May 1, 2017 that, if passed, will include new funds for historic preservation.
As a result of the hard work of grassroots activists from around the nation and the pitches made at this year’s historic preservation advocacy day, the latest Omnibus FY17 budget deal includes increased funding for the nation’s preservation programs.
Maryland Tobacco Barn, previous recipient of Save America’s Treasures grant funding.
Historic preservation fund updates
State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs): $47.925M, $1M over FY16 enacted levels
Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs): $10.485M, $500,000 over FY16 enacted levels
Competitive Grants for the preservation of sites associated with the Civil Rights Movement: $13.5M, $5M over FY16 enacted levels
Save America’s Treasures Grant Program: $5M, not included in FY16 levels and not funded at all since FY10
Historical Black Colleges and Universities Preservation Grants: $4M, not included in FY16 levels
Preservation highlights elsewhere in the fy17 omnibus
- $2.9B for the National Park Service, $81M over FY16 enacted levels
- $400M for the Land & Water Conservation Fund, including $10M for the American Battlefield Protection Program
- $150M each for the National Endowment of the Humanities and Arts
- $3B for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG); equal to FY16 enacted levels
- $145M for Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes; $35 million over FY2016 enacted levels
- $400M for Disaster Recovery Community Development Block Grants to assist communities recovering from natural disasters occurring in 2015, 2016 and 2017.