America 250 Grant Opportunity | Advocacy Success Story
Good Reads: New Immigration Program for Hotel Workers?
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced a new grant program for museums, libraries, archives, and other cultural organizations to support public programs on the ideas of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States. NEH’s Public Impact Projects Celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary program offers grants of up to $200,000 for projects that focus on public interpretation of the Founding Era and the lasting impact of the people and events that propelled the Revolution. The application is July 9.
The grant program is part of NEH’s larger A More Perfect Union initiative focused on exploring America’s story and celebrating its 250 years of cultural heritage and inspiring civic engagement.
Detailed information on the grant program and a link to the application can be found here: https://www.neh.gov/program/public-impact-projects-celebrating-americas-250th-anniversary
Team Mississippi was in DC this week to talk tourism with their congressional delegation and their efforts successfully encouraged one Congressman to speak up on behalf of National Heritage Areas. Currently, the FY25 funding for National Heritage Areas has been held up by Office of Management and Budget and no timeline has been given for disbursing these funds. This has caused a lot of heartburn for NHAs leaders as the funds are critical to all NHAs operation. On Thursday, June 12, the House Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing on the President’s FY26 budget for the Department of the Interior. Secretary Doug Burgum testified and answer questions for more than 4 hours. There was a scrambled to find member of the committee to ask a question about when the funds will be released. Rep. Mike Ezell (R-MS-4) came through, asking at the hearing: “My district is home to the Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area and they have not received any funding for FY2025, with no clear timeline for disbursement through the National Park Service. The funds can bolster 6 coastal counties and 45 coastal communities. Can you please provide us with an update on when these funds will be released?” Secretary Burgum assured the Congressman that he would have his staff check into this situation.
Here’s a link to the hearing, Rep. Ezell had 5 minutes to ask questions and his NHA question comes at 3:16:42. https://naturalresources.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=417185
Kudos to Team Mississippi!
Good Reads
Yesterday, at a Cabinet meeting, President Trump announced that he wants a plan to help undocumented farm and hotel workers work legally in the U.S. Currently, the H2-B visa program allows for immigrant workers to be hired for short-term seasonal positions outside of the agricultural sector and specifically does not allow a pathway to citizenship or permanent residency. The H2-A visa program allows for short-term agricultural workers. It is not clear if the new plan would rework these programs or create a new one. NBC News has a good outline of the President’s informal proposal that can be read here.