National Trust Awards $13.5 Million to Preserve Historic Black Churches Across America

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a division of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, announced a total of $13.5 million in grants in 2026 through its Preserving Black Churches program, marking its fourth annual grant round. The funding was distributed to 33 historically Black churches across the United States, with grants supporting capital restoration projects, endowment building, organizational capacity, and interpretive programming. Among the notable recipients, Shorter AME Church in Denver, Colorado, received funding to restore its historic sanctuary, which was damaged by a KKK arson attack in 1925. New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, established by survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, received an endowment match grant to ensure its long-term financial sustainability. Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, a global symbol of the Civil Rights Movement, received organizational capacity building support to hire a Director of Development. Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, where Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Was baptized and preached, received funding to design an interpretive and educational tour of its historic legacy. Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois, considered the birthplace of gospel music, will receive funding for interpretive programming celebrating its musical heritage. The grants also supported churches connected to the Underground Railroad, including Wayman Chapel AME Church in Princeton, Indiana, and Memorial AME Zion Church in Rochester, New York. Fund leaders emphasized that these churches serve not only as places of worship but as anchors of Black faith, culture, democracy, and community that must be preserved for future generations.