Cultural and Community Resilience | 20230112 PN

Opportunity Information: Apply for 20230112 PN

The Cultural and Community Resilience grant opportunity is a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) program administered through its Division of Preservation and Access. It is designed to help communities protect and sustain cultural resources in the face of major disruptions, specifically the ongoing impacts of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. The core idea is to strengthen cultural resilience at the community level by supporting projects that identify, document, and/or collect cultural heritage and lived community experience, particularly where those materials or stories are at risk of being lost due to environmental threats, public health crises, or related social and economic stressors.

This program is rooted in the humanities and cultural preservation space (CFDA 45.149), and it funds practical, community-based work that results in better protection, understanding, and continuity of local cultural resources. Projects typically align with activities like documenting community history, recording oral histories, collecting and preserving at-risk materials, and building or improving efforts that safeguard cultural heritage for future access. While the summary description emphasizes identifying, documenting, and collecting, the larger purpose is broader: helping communities reduce harm to cultural resources, respond to disruptions, and recover in ways that keep cultural identity and memory intact.

A central priority of this opportunity is support for disadvantaged communities within the United States or its jurisdictions. In practice, this means NEH is explicitly looking for proposals that serve communities that have historically faced barriers to resources and infrastructure, or that are disproportionately affected by climate impacts and public health emergencies. Alongside that priority, NEH encourages applicants to use inclusive methodologies, which signals an expectation that projects be designed with community participation, respect for local knowledge, and approaches that ensure the work represents the community fairly and accessibly. This emphasis on inclusion also suggests the program values ethical documentation and collection practices, collaboration, and sensitivity to how communities want their heritage represented and preserved.

The award structure indicates a competitive, limited pool of grants. The maximum award amount (award ceiling) is $150,000, and NEH anticipated making about 15 awards under this announcement. The opportunity is categorized as a discretionary grant, meaning awards are made through a competitive review process rather than by formula. The funding opportunity number is 20230112 PN, and the opportunity was created on October 21, 2022, with an original application deadline of January 12, 2023.

Eligibility is broad across public, educational, nonprofit, and tribal entities, reflecting the program's community-centered focus. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; and nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions under that nonprofit category). This range allows local governments, universities, tribal governments, and community nonprofits to lead projects, which fits the program's intent to reach communities through the institutions that often steward cultural assets or have the capacity to manage preservation and documentation work.

Overall, Cultural and Community Resilience is a preservation-and-access oriented NEH grant meant to help communities take concrete steps to safeguard cultural heritage under current and emerging threats. It supports on-the-ground humanities work that captures community experience, protects vulnerable cultural resources, and strengthens long-term resilience, with special emphasis on disadvantaged communities and inclusive, community-engaged methods.

• The National Endowment for the Humanities in the humanities (see cultural affairs in cfda) sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cultural and Community Resilience" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 45.149.
• This funding opportunity was created on Oct 21, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 12, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $150,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 15 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for 20230112 PN

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: