Thurston’s Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) reviewed applications to the 2024 Heritage Grant Program Awards and Historic Commission Projects Budget on Wednesday, December 13.
In 2005, the Washington state legislature set aside $1 of the $5 document recording to fund historic preservation activities in counties in Washington state. In 2009, the BOCC asked the Historic Commission to develop a program to disburse the funds in the community equitably, leading to the development of the Heritage Grant Program Awards.
The board enacted the program in 2010.
The budget intended for the 2024 grants amounts to $40,000, which will be divided among the recipient projects.
The Historic Commission recommended funding six applications totaling $32,500. They also recommended granting up to $7,500 to each applicant to utilize the total budget fully.
The board must approve the funding to release the grant awards to the applicants.
“So far, today, at least at the end of 2022, we've distributed $487,000 to the community, which is leveraged over $1 million in other funding and volunteer efforts in our community. This is an amount of economic development that has spurred by these heritage program grants and has been great for our community and our community partners in historic preservation,” Davis said.
“We have $40,000 available. The Historic Commission looked at the amount available and the amount of the request and thought, ‘hey we have the opportunity here to provide more funding to the various groups’,” Community Planning & Economic Development (CPED) Operations Manager Jeremy Davis shared.
The agenda document showed a table summarizing the six applications, their asking money for their original request, their total project cost, their projected matching in-kind contributions, and an adjusted funding level for dispersion in the full $40,000 funding.
The six projects lodged for 2024 are:
The BoCC will formally approve the projects at a regular board meeting in January next year.
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griffithga
As one of the many beneficiaries in Thurston County of the annual Heritage Grant program, the Olympia Historical Society & Bigelow House Museum (OHS-BHM) cannot overstate how valuable and important this grant program is for small, non-profit organizations such as ours. In the past, grant funds have provided OHS-BHM with funds to perform needed rehabilitation and preservation projects that we otherwise would not have been able to complete. For example, Heritage Grant funds have funded the construction and installation of customized storm windows that not only protect our historic 19th and early 20th century windows from weather and human caused damage, but also help lower our energy costs. We have also been able to restore or reconstruct our character defining, Gothic Revival-style front porch, restored one of the bedrooms for viewing on tours, repaired steps, and installed a new roof on our 19th century shed and garage. The list goes on. Also important to mention is that grant funds often employ the services of local contractors, consultants, and shops that keeps grant dollars in the local economy.
We are sure we speak for other Thurston County heritage organizations and museums in thanking the Historic Commission, County staff, and the BOCC for their continued support of this vital program that helps sustains heritage organizations to the benefit of current and future generations of Thurston County residents.
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