(WXYZ) — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced last week the 45 projects that will share more than $1 million in American250MI grants.
According to the DNR, these are the second round of grants that are aimed at celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The funds were appropriated to the DNR by the state legislature, and across metro Detroit, there were 15 projects that got money from the grants.
“Michigan is defined by generations of hardworking people who contributed diverse chapters to our collective story of what it means to be Americans and Michiganders,” Sandra Clark, the director of the Michigan History Center, said in a statement. “Last June, the first round of the program awarded more than 50 projects around the state. As we start to see those efforts move toward completion, it’s exciting to anticipate Round 2 projects getting underway – all in commemoration of our nation’s 250th anniversary.”
The projects are:
Tier 3 awardees
- Ukrainian American Archives and Museum Inc. - $48,292.78 for A Shared American Story: Ukrainian American Contributions to Michigan
- African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County - $50,000 for Black Labor, Leadership & Civic Engagement in Washtenaw County
- Friends of the Garden City Historical Museum - $29,572 for Discovering our Place in American250MI: Digitizing 68 years of Garden City History
- City of Northville - $50,000 for Northville History Trail
Tier 2 awardees
- Ray Township - $25,000 for Beyond the Headstones project
- Ypsilanti Historical Society - $20,440 for Safeguard and Share Ypsilanti's History
- Plymouth Historical Society - $24,990.20 for Plymouth-Canton-Northville: A Shared Regional History
- Arab American National Museum - $25,000 for Southend Stories: A Focus on the People and the Land of Dearborn, MI
- Charter Township of Oxford - $15,646 for Oxford Township Historical Markers
- City of Dearborn and Dearborn Historical Museum - $25,000 for Reinvesting in the Pioneer Room at the Dearborn Historical Museum
Tier 1 awardees
- Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society - $5,000 for the Greater West Bloomfield Diverse History Project
- Wyandotte Oakwood Cemetery Association - $4,850 for Echoes of the Past QR codes
- Royal Oak Historical Society - $5,000 for three projects
- Stoney Creek Chapter DAR - $4,835 for Children's Liberty Garden
- Cobblestone Farm Association - $4,937.19 for Learning from our Past: increasing Community Access to Local History
According to the DNR, the program received more than 230 proposals during the 75-day application period. In all, they awarded $1,020,882.66 in grant money to projects in Alger, Alpena, Antrim, Barry, Branch, Charlevoix, Clinton, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Houghton, Ingham, Kalamazoo, Leelanau, Mackinac, Macomb, Manistee, Marquette, Mecosta, Monroe, Oakland, Oceana, Shiawassee, Washtenaw and Wayne counties.
Each application had to include the America250MI five guiding themes: Unfinished Revolutions, Power of Place, American Experiment, We the People and Doing History.
“The number of applications more than doubled between Round 1 and Round 2, demonstrating a great need for this funding,” said Clark. “This anniversary is about not only the day the Declaration of Independence was signed, but also all of the stories that followed. Local history provides the building blocks of our nation’s story, and supporting these projects brings commemorating the semiquincentennial close to home.”
