Historic Black Churches Receive $8.5 Million in Preservation Grants

Several historically Black churches received preservation grants totaling $8.5 million in February 2026, with the funding coming from the National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.

Among the recipients are Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Both churches hold significant places in American civil rights history.

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund has now supported 170 churches with nearly $34 million in total grants since the program launched. The grants are designed to protect the physical assets and institutional legacies of these congregations.

Three historically Black Episcopal churches are also among the recipients, according to the Episcopal News Service, which reported on the grants in February 2026.

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was the site of the 1963 bombing that killed four young girls during the Civil Rights Movement. The church has continued to serve its Birmingham community for more than 60 years since that attack.

Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta was the home church of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his father before him. It remains an active congregation and a major site of historical memory.

Preservation advocates say the grants address a critical need. Many historic Black churches face deferred maintenance, aging infrastructure, and limited budgets that make large-scale repairs difficult without outside support.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has made the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund a central part of its preservation work over the past several years.