Applications for the next round of the Route 66 Black Experiences Grant Program, administered through the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership, are being taken through Oct. 31.
According to a news release from the partnership:
The grant program is one of the first in a series of “birthday gifts” to be given to Route 66 in the years leading up to the road’s centennial (in 2026).
The Road Ahead was awarded $250,000 by American Express to provide direct grants to help Black-owned and/or operated businesses and attractions along Route 66.
The funds will also support research and programs that interpret and tell the stories of Black experiences associated with Route 66.
Applications are available at RoadAhead.Route66Centennial.org.
Grants also will be given in 2024, 2025, and 2026. A total of $50,000 — or 10 awards of up to $5,000 each — is being awarded each year through the Route 66 Black Experiences Grant Program.
These were the 2022 grant award winners:
- Flagstaff’s Lived Black Experiences on 66 oral history project, Flagstaff, Arizona
- MEs Place Soul Food Kitchen & Joplin African American History Center project, Joplin, Missouri
- Interactive Green Book Route 66 project
- Threatt Filling Station restoration project, Luther, Oklahoma
- Route History junior historian project, Springfield, Illinois
- “After the Peanut” documentary short project, Will County, Illinois
- Green Book Cannabis Company beautification project, El Reno, Oklahoma
UPDATE 10/6/2023: The partnership announced today it is extending the deadline from Oct. 14 to Oct. 31.
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