Oklahoma Route 66 Association received nearly $15,000 in federal COVID-19 funds

The Oklahoma Route 66 Association recently received nearly $15,000 from the federal coronavirus relief funds from American Rescue Plan.

The association’s current newsletter, distributed this month, stated:

In August, Oklahoma Humanities (OH) reported that almost $700,000 in American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act funding would be distributed to over 50 cultural and educational organizations statewide. Grants were awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to eligible applicants and funds general operating expenses at museums, archives, historic sites, and other nonprofits recovering from the pandemic.
The Oklahoma Route 66 Association was one of the nonprofits awarded money from this grant opportunity.
Funding for these grants was supported by $135 million in supplemental funding allocated to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Oklahoma Humanities is responsible for the distribution of federal funding allocated to the state of Oklahoma from the NEH Federal and State Partnership Division.

Rhys Martin, president of the association, stated in a follow-up email the Oklahoma Route 66 Association received a total of $14,905.73 in those federal relief funds.

“… It was used to cover rent, salary for our Executive Director, and utilities for a period of time,” Martin wrote, referring to Marilyn Emde.

“It’s rare that subgrants like this from Oklahoma Humanities can be used for such purposes – but given the strain that COVID has placed on the overall tourism industry it was a perfect application for us to ensure that our operations wouldn’t be impacted.”

Martin also supplied a quote from Oklahoma Humanities that described the subgrant:

Oklahoma Humanities is accepting grant applications for funding under the American Rescue Plan (ARP).  These grants are available to cultural organizations that were negatively impacted by the pandemic.  OH will provide recovery funding for general operating expenses to museums, archives, historic sites, and other cultural nonprofits with awards of up to $15,000 to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from the pandemic.  Operational expenses include but are not limited to: staff retention (salaries and benefits), rent or mortgage, utilities, and supplies.

To date, I’m not aware of any other Route 66 association that received such funds. State governments had a lot of leeway on how to distribute the money. In this case, the Oklahoma Route 66 Association was fortunate enough to be one of the beneficiaries.

(Image of an Oklahoma Route 66 sign in Chandler, Oklahoma, by scott.tanis via Flickr)