Thirty-three Black churches across America have been awarded preservation funding through a national program aimed at protecting historically significant African American religious institutions.
Mount Morris Ascension Church in Harlem and Bethany Baptist Church in Brooklyn are among the 33 congregations nationwide receiving grants through the Preserving Black Churches program. The initiative was led by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. The program recently distributed $8.5 million in preservation funding to support structural repairs, conservation, work, and long-term preservation planning.
Grants awarded through the program range from $50,000 to $500,000. Many historical institutions suffer maintenance challenges that often accompany historic buildings. Yet the declining spaces have long-served as centers of community organizing, worship, and civic leadership, thus the need for preservation.
In Harlem, Mount Morris Ascension Church received a $350,000 grant that church leaders say will support a series of restoration projects. Mount Morris Ascension will begin roof repairs, masonry stabilization, and conservation of the church’s stained-glass windows..
Bethany Baptist Church in Brooklyn will also use its preservation award to support repairs and restoration work designed to maintain the historic structure while allowing the congregation to continue serving neighborhood residents, Amsterdam News reported.
In a press release, Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, said the initiative reflects the importance of protecting institutions that have historically anchored civic life in Black communities.
“America’s 250th anniversary is an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable legacy of our nation’s historically Black churches.” said Leggs “They are essential civic institutions that have anchored democracy, community leadership, and collective care for generations. By investing in their preservation today, we are safeguarding not just historic buildings and architecture, but a living legacy of resilience and social progress for the future.”
Historic Black Institutions Grantees:
University AME Zion Church, Palo Alto, California
Shorter AME Church (New Dance Theatre d.b.a. Cleo Parker Robinson Dance), Denver, Colorado
Third Baptist Church (Church of the Advent Anglican), Washington, D.C.
Trinity Episcopal Church (DC Trinity Development Corporation), Washington, D.C.
Bethel Baptist Institutional Church, Jacksonville, Florida
First African Baptist Church, Savannah, Georgia
Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, Chicago, Illinois
Wayman Chapel, Princeton, Indiana
Fifth Street Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky
Clinton African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (d.b.a. The DuBois Freedom Center; The W.E.B DuBois Center for Freedom and Democracy), Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church, Harlem, New York
First Baptist Church of Walnut Hills, Cincinnati
Zion Baptist Church, Philadelphia
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Charleston, South Carolina
Shiloh Baptist Church, Alexandria, Virginia
John Wesley Community Church (Waterford Foundation, Inc.), Waterford, Virginia
New Jerusalem Baptist Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Pilgrim Baptist Church, Chicago
Mount Moriah African Methodist Episcopal Church (Banneker-Douglas-Tubman Museum Foundation), Annapolis, Maryland
Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Rochester, New York
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