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Preserve America News |March 2010New Preserve America Communities and Stewards Announced 
First Lady Michelle Obama announced the latest Preserve America Communities and Stewards in early February. This brings the total to 814 communities and 21 stewards across the country. Read more. Pierre, S.D., is one of the newest Preserve America Communities. The 1910 state capitol is pictured here. Preserve America Grants Status Following the President’s State of the Union message, in February the Administration’s proposed budget for FY 2011 was released. No funding was requested for the Preserve America or Save America’s Treasures grants programs, and funding for National Heritage Areas was cut in half. Now that the budget proposal has been presented to Congress, attention turns to the appropriations committees in the House and Senate for action on these requests. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has begun leading an effort to have funding restored for these programs at the FY 2010 level, which included $4.6 million for Preserve America and $25 million for Save America’s Treasures. 
Preserve America Communities have now been designated in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories (U.S. Virgin Islands communities as well as all of American Samoa). The latest 19 communities were designated on February 2, 2010, by the White House. (Since July 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama designated 78 communities.) More than 1,000 applications for designation have been received since the program was announced in 2003. Below is the breakdown of the designated communities: 713 Municipalities (cities, towns, villages, boroughs, townships, unincorporated communities) To date, a total of $20.25 million for 259 grant projects in 49 states has been awarded for Preserve America Grants through seven competitive grant rounds. An eighth grant round closed on February 12, 2010, and applications are currently being processed by the National Park Service. Grant awards will be announced later this spring. Not including the most recent 2010 grant round, 618 project proposals have been received by NPS requesting more than $58 million (nearly three times the available funds). So far, 76 percent of Preserve America grantees have been Preserve America Communities, with 22 percent of grants going to State Historic Preservation Officers (some of this funding has been sub-granted to communities) and 2 percent to Tribal Historic Preservation Offices. Types of projects supported have included interpretation and education (31 percent), promotion (29 percent), planning (20 percent), research and documentation (16 percent) and training (4 percent). White Mountain Apache Tribe Museum, Arizona. The tribal community is a designated Preserve America Community. Dozen Distinctive Destinations 
The National Trust announced its annual list of the Dozen Distinctive Destinations across the United States, and six are Preserve America Communities. They are Huntsville, Ala.; Sitka, Alaska; Fort Collins, Colo.; Simsbury, Conn.; Rockland, Maine; and Bastrop, Texas. Fort Collins has received two Preserve America Grants, and Simsbury and Bastrop have each received one, contributing to their success as heritage tourism destinations. Read more from the National Trust. Read the community profiles of the Preserve America Communities. Preserve America Community Rockland, Maine, windjammer parade Journey Through Hallowed Ground Launches New Program 
Making the most of a Preserve America Grant, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground (JTHG) Partnership is launching a certified hospitality-training program to help local businesses within the JTHG National Heritage Area reap financial rewards. The JTHG Partnership sought and secured $500,000 to underwrite this program, nearly half of which came from a grant from Preserve America. Training is $49 per person. In conjunction with convention and visitor bureaus and destination management organizations throughout the 180-mile JTHG National Heritage Area running from Gettysburg to Monticello, the JTHG Certified Tourism Ambassador program will train thousands of staff who interact with visitors regularly, to elevate the visitor experience into one that encourages them to stay longer, experience more of the JTHG National Heritage Area, share their positive experiences with others and come for return visits. Read more. Training new ambassadors 
Since 1986, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD) has helped transform communities through design by preparing mayors to be the chief urban designers of their cities. To build on the momentum created by the MICD over its quarter-century history, the Arts Endowment is announcing the NEA Mayors’ Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary initiative which will award a limited number of grants, ranging from $25,000 to $250,000, to showcase and celebrate the goals of the MICD during its anniversary in 2011. Projects may include planning, design and arts engagement activities. Eligible applicants include cities (or their designees) that have participated in the Mayor’s Institute in the past or are planning to participate in 2010. This includes many Preserve America Communities. Statements of interest are due on March 15, 2010, and invitations to apply will be issued April 8, 2010. For more information, application materials and to see if your community is eligible to apply, go to www.arts.gov/grants/apply/MICD25/index.html. Heritage Tourism Examples Needed 
The Preserve America program is seeking good examples of heritage tourism projects or programs from Preserve America Communities that, in the opinion of local organizations and partners, have been especially successful at attracting visitors or interpreting heritage resources; have been relatively cost-effective with low to moderate implementation costs; have been used or maintained for some time with available resources and without major new annual investments of time and money; and might be replicated by other communities. We would love to hear from you, especially if you would like to brag about a particularly innovative or creative approach to local heritage tourism. Selected projects may be featured on the Preserve America Web site or used in presentations and publications. Please send a very brief description (no more than a paragraph) and contact information to ranzalone@achp.gov so we can follow up with you. Preserve America Community Charles Town, W.Va. Civil War reenactors |
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