Posts in Preservation in Action
Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church to Receive $100,000 From African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund

With the official public announcement of the 2024 Preserving Black Churches Grants on January 15, the Friends of Thomas Memorial are proud to share that Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church has received $100,000 in funding from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

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Big Impact for Small Towns: Investment Strategies for Rural Projects

Even small money can make a big difference in small towns. In this session from PastForward 2022, panelists dig into the results of the Northeast Heritage Economy Program (NHEP) grants, administered in 2020-2022. NHEP is a collaborative initiative of the Preservation League of New York State, New Hampshire Preservation Alliance, Maine Preservation, and Preservation Trust of Vermont.

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A Look at the League Connections to the 2022 REDC Grantees

Just like we did last year, when NYS announced its Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) grant recipients, we dove in to find League connections. Announced at the end of 2022, the Round XII REDC grants awarded $90 million in funding to 74 projects. Of those, 17 projects receiving grants totaling $8.9 million have also received direct involvement in the form of advocacy, grants, or loans from the Preservation League. When you break down the numbers, these projects were able to leverage every $1 of League funding for $5 from NYS.

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Research on Preservation and Restoration Building Trades Reveals Worker Shortages in the Northeast, Highlights Opportunities for Workforce Development

Understanding and Advancing the Preservation Trades provides an overview of the current status of these professions in the Northeast, and offers a wealth of insights from tradespeople, educators, workforce development professionals, and preservation specialists. Together, these perspectives inform a variety of recommended actions suitable for individual practitioners, businesses, nonprofits, training programs, and other stakeholders who aim to strengthen the preservation trades workforce.

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Giving New Life to a Historic Building – The Historic Ford Block

The Downtown Oneonta Historic District is included on the League’s 2022-2023 Seven to Save list. As part of our outreach, we contacted local nonprofit Springbrook to learn more about their current Historic Tax Credit project in the downtown district. In addition to graciously hosting us for a tour of the building, they also shared this guest blog post. Keep reading to learn more about the revitalization of the Ford Block building.

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A Building Investigation of Buffalo's Paramount Lodge

Since including Opera Houses on the 2018-19 Seven to Save list, the League has worked to document and develop strategies for the preservation of this important building type. We define the term “opera house” fairly broadly to include buildings that historically provided commercial and/or civic space on the first floor with a multi-use performance / meeting space in the upper stories. This summer, our colleagues at Preservation Buffalo Niagara (PBN) and BAC/Architecture + Planning, PLLC completed a Building Investigation on one such building: Paramount Lodge No. 73. The League was able to provide funding for this report thanks to a generous grant from the Arthur F. & Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, which previously funded a statewide study identifying and documenting extant opera houses.

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Survey seeks insights on historic preservation trades workforce

A public survey, open through July, seeks to understand workforce development challenges, barriers, opportunities, and successes in the Northeast region. The Northeast Regional Initiative for the Preservation Trades is a cooperative project between the Preservation League of New York State, Preservation Trust of Vermont, the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance, and Maine Preservation.

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A Parrott Hall Construction Update

The Parrott Hall Coalition, a working group that includes the Landmark Society of Western NY, Friends of Parrott Hall, City of Geneva, and the Preservation League of NYS, has been watching with excitement as Massa Construction nears completion of their masonry and roof stabilization project at Parrott Hall in Elmira. Work began in December 2021; after a winter hiatus, work resumed in May 2022 and has progressed quickly in the last several weeks.

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Saving African American History on Long Island: The Peter Crippen House

The Town of Huntington received a Technical Assistance Grant from the League in 2020 to fund an Engineering Structural Analysis of the Peter Crippen House (TAG is a regrant partnership program between the League and the New York State Council on the Arts). We reached out to their Town Historian Robert Hughes to get an update on the project.

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