Action Fund Awards $3 Million to Preserve Black Historic Sites

The funding is split between the National Grant Program, which received $2.26 million, and the Conserving Black Modernism Initiative, which allocated $750,000. These investments target sites that have long shaped the American cultural landscape, including the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor and Thelma’s Cafe in West Virginia, a former Green Book destination. Other recipients include the Eliza Freeman House in Connecticut and the Detroit Association of Women's Clubs building.

The Conserving Black Modernism Initiative, a partnership with the J. Paul Getty Foundation, specifically highlights the contributions of Black architects. Projects like Fisk University’s Park Johnson Hall and the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanities Center at Texas Southern University are among those selected for preservation. Since its inception in 2017, the Action Fund has raised over $200 million, supporting more than 430 projects to ensure that sites of Black resilience and achievement remain for future generations. According to Brent Leggs, founder of the Action Fund, these grants provide essential support to local stewards who are preserving the full scope of the American story.