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Beaufort County Black Chamber wins Mellon grant, plans cultural grants and building restoration
Summary
The Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce outlined a three-year Mellon Foundation GRACE grant for Gullah/Geechee cultural preservation, staffing expansion and a regranting component; the chamber also launched a capital campaign to restore its facility.
Marilyn Harris, president of the Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce, told city partners the chamber won an $875,000 Mellon Foundation grant (the GRACE initiative) to support Gullah/Geechee cultural preservation, legal services, education and community re-granting. Harris said about $125,000 of that GRACE money will be available for regranting to local organizations for parish preservation and related cultural projects, and the foundation grant includes seed funding for restoring a vacant building behind the chamber facility into an incubator and classroom space in 2026.
Harris described a four-step recovery plan for the chamber—restoration, rebuilding, advancement and sustainability—and said recent support from the Coastal Community Foundation and other funders helped the chamber rebuild staffing and programming. She said the chamber has hired new staff and interns and is expanding partnerships (Lowcountry Legal Volunteers, Center for Gullah/Geechee Studies, Good Neighbor Clinic, and others) that will operate from or alongside the chamber facility.
Why it matters: Harris said the chamber will focus on economic empowerment—microloans, housing counseling and neighborhood repair grants—targeted to minority communities across Beaufort and adjacent counties; the Mellon grant and matching funding plan are intended to drive community-scale preservation and economic programming.
Quotes (selected): "The GRACE initiative is an $875,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation" — Marilyn Harris, Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce.
Ending: Harris said a capital campaign will follow to pay down the chamber mortgage and sustain the organization’s operations and incubator plans; she invited partners to meetings and to participate in the chamber’s monthly "Bold Futures" convenings to co-design programs in education, housing repair and cultural preservation.
