Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Archives Capital Projects topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Archives & History seeks $10M for preservation grants, asks state to finish Vicksburg visitor center funding
Summary
Archives leaders asked the committee for $10 million for the Community Heritage Preservation Grant program and urged completion of the state's contribution to the Vicksburg Civil War Visitor Center to unlock federal and private funding.
Katie Blunt (department director) told the committee the Community Heritage Preservation Grant program has been left unfunded for two years and the department is asking for $10,000,000 to support projects that have been stalled.
Blunt said the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians remains the department’s highest project priority. On the Vicksburg Civil War Visitor Center, she described a multi-source financing plan and said the state’s remaining share would signal momentum to private donors and federal funders: "If the state steps up and completes its funding this year, we can get the private and the federal funding," she said.
Department staff said the state has already provided $16,000,000 for Vicksburg and that an additional state contribution (discussed in the hearing as $36,000,000–$46,000,000 in different places) would complete the state's portion and allow bidding for construction and exhibits in the spring, contingent on federal and private funds.
Barry White described stabilization work at Jefferson College and requested a $1,500,000 match to draw down federal ‘‘Save America’s Treasures’’ funds to support preservation trades training on campus.
