National Trust Awards $8.5 Million to 33 Historic Black Churches

The National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded $8.5 million in grants to 33 historic Black churches in 2026, providing funds for structural repairs and preservation work at sites that have played central roles in African American history.

Among the recipients are the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, where a 1963 bombing killed four young girls during the Civil Rights Movement, and Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once served as co-pastor.

The grants come from the National Trust's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which was established to address the deteriorating condition of many historically significant Black institutions across the country.

Episcopal News Service reported that several historically Black Episcopal churches were also among the recipients. Many of the buildings date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and require significant investment to remain structurally sound.

Church leaders who received grants said the funding will allow them to address long-deferred maintenance while keeping their buildings open for worship and community use.

"These are not just old buildings," said one pastor whose church received a grant. "They are places where people organized, prayed, mourned, and celebrated through some of the hardest chapters in American history. Keeping them standing matters."

The National Trust said it plans to continue expanding the fund in coming years as demand from eligible congregations remains high.