Cultural and Community Resilience

Maximum award amount

$150,000

Expected Output

Oral History Collections; Digital Surrogate or Born Digital Collections; Physical Archival Collections; Memoranda of Understanding; Shared Stewardship Agreements; Collection Data Sustainability Plans; Plans for Community Documentation

Period of performance

Up to two years

About the Program
Application Instructions

The Cultural and Community Resilience program supports community-based efforts to address the impacts of climate change and COVID-19 by safeguarding cultural resources and fostering cultural resilience through identifying, documenting, and/or collecting cultural heritage and community experiences. The program prioritizes projects from disadvantaged communities in the United States or its jurisdictions.

Projects should fall into one of two categories: community collecting initiatives or oral history programs. All projects must address the impacts of either climate change or the COVID-19 pandemic on one or more communities. The program welcomes both modest projects and larger ones and supports projects at any stage, from preliminary planning to final steps and implementation.

Project activities may take many forms, including but not limited to:

Collaborative planning to identify cultural and historical resources;
Documentation of cultural and historical resources through digital means;
Recording oral histories;
Preserving Traditional Knowledge, practices, or technologies, and memories of elders and community, including in languages other than English; or
Establishing shared resources and protocols for rapid response collecting.

NEH welcomes applications at all stages of project development and encourages the use of inclusive methodologies. These might include folkloric, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic modes of inquiry; oral histories; participatory archiving; shared stewardship arrangements; and community-centered access. NEH also encourages leveraging open access online resources and using Creative Commons licenses, when possible and as appropriate.

Please note: the proposal should budget funds for two members of the project team to attend a two-day meeting in Washington, D.C., in May 2026. See Research and Related Budget, section D in the Notice of Funding Opportunity, for more information.

A new pre-recorded webinar with updated information discussing the Cultural and Community Resilience program will be posted to this page by March 21, 2024.

2024 Cultural and Community Resilience Pre-Application Webinar

Application Instructions

Step 1 Review your application package

Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity to ensure you understand all the expectations and restrictions for projects delivered under this program and are prepared to write the most effective application.

Application materials

Notice of Funding Opportunity 2024

Grants.gov application package

Program Resources

FAQ, 2024

Recently funded projects

Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence for NEH Grant Proposals

Sample Application Narratives

Cayey University College, Collective Care: Oral Histories of Climate Change in Puerto Rico, University of Puerto Rico

City of Tacoma, Grit and Resilience: Developing a Community-Centered Approach to Documenting Climate Change in "Grit City"

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Vssvnochi Anumpuli (Elders Speak): The Past, Present and Future in Choctaw

Harrison County Library System, Preserving the History of At-Risk Groups in Harrison County, Mississippi

Museum at Bethel Woods, 1960s Oral Histories – New York Community Connectors

Regents of the University of Minnesota, Cultural and Community Resilience in Gullah/Geechee Nation

South Asian American Digital Archive, Communities of Care: Stories from South Asian American Healthcare Workers

Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, Mott Haven History Keepers: Investing in Grassroots Public Humanities Infrastructure

Step 2 Register for a SAM number and an account on Grants.gov

Confirm that your SAM registration is current and verify your access to Grants.gov. If you have not already done so, you be required to create a Login.gov user account to register and log in to SAM and Grants.gov. Login.gov is a secure sign in service used by the public to sign in to participating government agencies. Create and link your account now.

Step 3 Complete your application package

Follow the instructions outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and in the Grants.gov instructions.

Step 4 Submit your application package on Grants.gov

You will receive a confirmation from Grants.gov when you’ve successfully submitted your application. Subsequently, you will receive up to five more notices confirming different stages in the application process. Verify that you have received all confirmations. Note that email filters may send these messages to your spam or junk folder.