April 2018 – Preservation Action

Preservation Action, Legislative Update
Volume 21, Number 11, April 13, 2018 →

Encourage Your Senators to Sign on to the Historic Preservation Fund Dear Colleague Letter

Congress is currently in the process of determining funding levels for Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19). During this critical time, we need to reach out to members of congress and encourage robust funding for the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF).The House HPF Dear Colleague Letter was sent to the House Appropriations Committee last month and received support from 117 Representatives, the most we’ve seen in several years. The FY18 Omnibus spending bill also included substantial increases for the HPF. Let’s keep up that momentum and make sure the HPF is well positioned as we enter the FY19 appropriations process. Urge your Senators to sign on to the Senate FY19 HPF Dear Colleague Letter today!

The Senate HPF Dear Colleague Letter request $97.9 million in funding for the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) for FY19. Including, $53 million for State Historic PreservationOffices (SHPOs), $14 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs), $500,000 for grants to underserved communities, $7 million for the Save America’s Treasures grant program, and $5 million for preservation grants to revitalize historic properties of national, State, and local significance. This request also includes $13 million for the Civil Rights competitive grants initiative and $5 million for competitive grants for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Senate FY19 HPF Dear Colleague Letter →

TAKE ACTION

Contact your Senators and request that they sign onto the FY19 Historic Preservation Fund Dear Colleague Appropriations letter being circulated by Sen. Kristin Gillibrand (D-NY) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). To maximize the impact of this letter we need as many Senators as possible to sign on.

If you already have a personal contact in your Senators office reach out to that person directly. If you don’t have a personal contact, find the contact information for your Senators office and reach out to their DC office and ask to speak with the Interior Appropriations staffer.

To sign onto the letter, Senate offices should contact Jon Cardinal in Sen. Gillbrand’s (D-NY) office at 202-224-4451 or jon_cardinal@gillibrand.senate.gov, or contact Ron Anderson in Sen. Cassidy’s (R-LA) office at 202-224-5824 or ron_anderson@cassidy.senate.gov. The deadline to sign on to the HPF Dear Colleague Letter is COB on Friday, April 27th. Reach out to your senators today!

Celebrate National Historic Preservation Month This May

Celebrate National Historic Preservation Month this May! Tours, special programs and events celebrating all things preservation, will be happening across the country throughout May. Let us know what your city or state is doing to celebrate Preservation Month!

Preservation Month Site Visits

National Historic Preservation Month is a great time to reach out to your members of Congress and their staff, and invite them to tour a historic tax credit project or join a Preservation Month event. Preservation Action is working to leverage Preservation Month as a great opportunity for members of Congress to visit historic tax credit projects and other historic sites in their district/state. The co-chairs of the Historic Preservation Caucus, Representatives Mike Turner (R-OH) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), along with Preservation Action, sent a letterto House members recognizing Preservation Month and encouraging site visits while in district. The House and Senate will be on an in-district period April 30 – May 4 and again May 28 – June 1. One thing we heard time and time again from congressional staff during Advocacy Week was site visits help to show members of Congress the tangible impact of programs like the Historic Tax Credit and Historic Preservation Fund. If your member/s of congress are unavailable for a site visit, invite congressional staff; this is still great way to highlight the impact of preservation in their state. Preservation Action will host a Preservation Month Hill briefing to encourage members of Congress and their staff to celebrate Preservation Month.

Contact Rob Naylor with Preservation Action at rnaylor@preservationaction.org if you need assistance facilitating a site visit. Be sure to share stories and photos from your site visits with us on Facebook and Twitter!

New Publication Features Information for Preservation Commissions With Limited Resources for Design Review

The National Alliance of Preservation Commissions announced the release of Design Review With Limited Resources: How Local Commissions Can Gain the Resources of Professional Preservationists Without Hiring Full-Time Staff. Produced in partnership with Middle Tennessee State University’s Center for Historic Preservation, the publication explores the variety of methods that commissions without professional preservation staff use to conduct design review.

Design Review with Limited Resources is available to download at no cost. Hardcopies are also being distributed to Certified Local Government coordinators in all 50 states.

“Many design review boards have the luxury of professional preservation staff to assist, but many more do not,” said Robin Ziegler, author. “This publication will inform communities that are working to preserve their historic resources through design review but, for whom the budget won’t allow full time paid professional staff.”

The guide came about after an educational session to brainstorm the future of staffless commissions at FORUM 2016, in Mobile, Alabama, NAPC’s biennial conference focused on the issues facing local historic preservation commissions that conduct design review. Zeigler will lead an update educational session on this topic at FORUM 2018 in Des Moines, Iowa, July 18-22, 2018.