National Trust Awards $8.5 Million to Preserve Historically Black Churches Across America

The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced $8.5 million in grants to 33 historically Black churches in February 2026, continuing a program that has now distributed nearly $34 million to 170 churches across the country.

The grants come through the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund's "Preserving Black Churches" initiative, which is supported by the Lilly Endowment. The funding covers a range of needs, from structural repairs and roof replacements to oral history programming and capacity building for church administrators.

Among the 2026 recipients, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, received $300,000 for capacity building. The church, which was bombed in 1963 in an attack that killed four young girls, remains one of the most historically significant Black churches in the country. Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, received $100,000 for oral history programming.

Program leaders say many historically Black churches face a funding gap that leaves them unable to maintain aging buildings, even when congregations are active and committed.

"These buildings are not just places of worship," said one program officer. "They are archives of Black American history, and they are disappearing faster than we can document them."

The grants also address a structural inequity in historic preservation funding. Historically Black churches have often been overlooked by traditional preservation programs, which have tended to favor buildings with formal landmark designations or large endowments.

Applications for the next grant cycle are expected to open later in 2026.