The Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership a few days ago announced 10 recipients from its Extraordinary Women Micro-Grants Program.
The Route 66 Extraordinary Women Micro-Grant Program provides critical and flexible funding to businesses and attractions along Route 66 that are majority women-owned or operated.
The 2023 round of the program was completed last month, with $2,000 awards given to:
- Rigby House Café, Waynesville, Missouri, for exterior enhancements that include flower boxes, new tables and installation of custom period booths in the interior dining room.
- Blue Swallow Motel, Tucumcari, New Mexico, to repair original neon signage damaged by a hailstorm in May.
- Stutts House of Bar-B-Que, Tulsa, Oklahoma, to bring the restaurant up to code by replacing an obsolete exhaust hood above the range.
- California Route 66 Museum, Victorville, California, to complete construction of a 1950s diner exhibit at the museum.
- Rosati Winery/Museum, St. James, Missouri, to repair restrooms at this recently purchased winery
as fund improvements to make the facility ADA-compliant. - Urban Art Gallery & Gift Shop, Carl Junction, Missouri, to support “Rebranding & Rebooting” of this boutique shop, including new signage, business cards, gift bags and repairs to wooden flooring.
- Flamenco Works, Albuquerque, New Mexico, to assist this nonprofit in creating a marketing plan and purchasing promotional materials designed to engage more youth and families.
- Neon Queen, Oklahoma City, to replace neon glass bending equipment to allow it to train new neon artists.
- “Rosie the Riveter on Route 66” documentary film, Encino, California, to help underwrite production costs for this film that tells the story of women who worked as “Rosie the Riveters” along Route 66.
- Roxy Theatre, Holbrook, Arizona, to complete needed repairs to cracked cement flooring and a leaking roof.
The Route 66 Extraordinary Women Micro-Grant Program is funded in part by the Preserve Route 66 Grant Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Road Ahead Partnership also seeks direct donations to the Program that can be made here.
The program is one in a series of “birthday gifts” that will be given to Route 66 in the years leading up to the historic road’s centennial in 2026.
The next round of The Route 66 Extraordinary Women Micro-Grant Program will begin Feb. 2. Applications are online here.
(Images courtesy of the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership)