Final cost-share grant season opens for Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program

An era is coming to an end as the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program announced this week it is opening its annual cost-share grant application season — its last before the program sunsets later this year.

According to a news release from program director Kaisa Barthuli:

Applications will be accepted until Friday, April 12, 2019. The grant application form and guidelines can be found here.

The Notice of Funding Opportunity has also been posted here on Grants.gov. You can view it by doing the following:

1. On Grants.gov home page, click Browse Agencies
2. Click Department of the Interior
3. At the search screen, go to Funding Opportunity No. NPSNOFOP19AS00029
4. When you find it, click on the Funding Opportunity No. to see the announcement.
5. If you go to related documents, you will also see the NOFO and Application Package.

The program provides grants for eligible historic preservation, research, and educational projects related to historic Route 66. Since 2001, the program has awarded 146 projects a total of $2.17 million with $3.45 million in cost-share match, totaling $5.62 million in public-private investment toward the revitalization and understanding of Route 66.

Many of the grants have gone to improve or preserve historic buildings, such as replacing roofs or adding new climate-control systems. But a few grants also have gone to documentary filmmakers, libraries and even preserving the archives of a massive but long-closed postcard factory.

Barring the passage of unexpected legislation by the U.S. Congress, the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program is set to expire sometime later this year. The Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership has vowed to take up the program’s mission, but nothing is set in stone yet.

Prospective applicants with questions about the cost-share program can call Barthuli’s office at (505) 988-6701.

(Image of a shored-up Painted Desert Trading Post, one of the recipients of last year’s cost-share grants from the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, by Paul Hickey via Facebook)