Cultural and Community Resilience
Forecasted
This grant funds community projects preserving cultural heritage and resilience in disadvantaged US areas impacted by climate change and COVID-19.
Funder: National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
Due Dates: May 20, 2025 (final cycle; program will not be reoffered)
Funding Amounts: Up to $150,000 total; project period up to 2 years
Summary: Supports community-based projects that safeguard cultural heritage and foster resilience in disadvantaged U.S. communities affected by climate change and COVID-19.
Key Information: This funding opportunity will not be reoffered after the 2025 deadline; projects must address climate change or COVID-19 impacts and prioritize disadvantaged communities.
Description
The Cultural and Community Resilience program by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) funds community-driven efforts to document, preserve, and foster resilience of cultural heritage impacted by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. The program prioritizes projects from disadvantaged communities within the United States or its jurisdictions.
Eligible projects fall into two main categories:
- Community collecting initiatives
- Oral history programs
All projects must address the effects of climate change or COVID-19 on one or more communities. The program supports projects at any stage, from initial planning to implementation and finalization.
Typical project activities include:
- Collaborative planning to identify cultural and historical resources
- Digital documentation of cultural and historical materials
- Recording oral histories
- Preserving traditional knowledge, practices, technologies, and memories, including in non-English languages
- Establishing shared resources and protocols for rapid response collecting
NEH encourages the use of inclusive and community-centered methodologies such as folkloric, ethnohistorical, ethnographic inquiry, participatory archiving, and shared stewardship arrangements. The program also supports leveraging open access online resources and applying Creative Commons licenses where appropriate.
Applicants should budget for two project team members to attend a two-day meeting in Washington, D.C., in May 2026.
Note: This program will not be reoffered after the 2025 cycle, so this is the final opportunity to apply.
