AAHMSNJ Recipient of NJCH COVID-19 Response Grant

Posted on: July 2, 2020, by :

The African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey has been awarded a $5,500 COVID-19 Response Grant by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities (NJCH).

The grant is designated for General Operating Support. The start of COVID-19 Pandemic in February and the closing of businesses in March have had the most serious negative impact on the museum and its finances since its founding 18 years ago. 

CARES Act funding, allocated to NJCH through the National Endowment for the Humanities, allowed NJCH to create a brand new COVID-19 Response Grant program. Announced to the public on May 1, this emergency funding was made available in two categories, General Operating Support ($5,000 to $20,000) and Program Support ($3,000 to $10,000), for New Jersey humanities organizations that experienced financial hardship due to COVID-19. The applications that were submitted reveal considerable hardships across the sector. Eighty-two organizations were awarded $649,620 in emergency COVID-19 Response Grant funding.

Although the museum provides free admission to the public, a very significant portion of our funding comes from visitor donations, museum memberships and gift shop sales. We were forced to close our doors, due to the State of Emergency issued by Governor Murphy, in mid-March.

The AAHMSNJ wishes to thank the NJCH for its support and we encourage our community supporters to contribute funds for our continued operations on the Museum’s website.