Preservation Virginia, a nonprofit that focuses on historic preservation, has received a $500,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to help document, elevate and save traditionally underrepresented history throughout the commonwealth.

Will Glasco, director of development at Preservation Virginia, said the newly launched “Voices Remembered” program will increase the capacity of local preservation groups and Preservation Virginia to identify and raise awareness for unique historic sites and stories

Also, Glasco said the Mellon-funded “Humanities in Place” program will: 1) support community outreach to help local communities harness tools to achieve preserving their history and historic sites; 2) grow Preservation Virginia’s African American Fellows Program from three participants to five with the goal of increasing participation in the historic preservation field; 3) expand descendant participation in the stories shared at Preservation Virginia’s six historic sites open to the public; and 4) establish a new website dedicated to connecting with descendant communities to share resources online.

“Preservation in a state as historic as Virginia is a massive undertaking, and we work with individuals, organizations and local governments to find ways to preserve and acknowledge historic sites and help plan their memorialization, adaptation and preservation with community members,” said Preservation Virginia CEO Elizabeth S. Kostelny.

Dr. Lisa Winn Bryan, community outreach manager at Preservation Virginia and assistant professor of African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, joined the organization in 2022 to implement a new level of community outreach to African American and Virginia Indian communities. Winn Bryan said studies reveal just 2 percent of the sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places focus on African American or Indigenous history.

The project will begin with conversations with focus groups throughout Virginia beginning this summer. In the fall, applications will open for the next class of Fellows at Preservation Virginia.