[MassHistPres] FW: Announcing A New Round of MHC Maritime Heritage Education Subgrant Program Funding - Applications Due April 24, 2026

[Holtz, Paul @ SEC]

Announcing MHC Maritime Heritage Education Subgrant Program Funding

The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) is among the recipients of 2024 National Maritime Heritage Grants awarded by the National Park Service (NPS) to State Historic Preservation Offices. The Grants are made possible through a partnership between NPS and the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD). The program does not use federal tax dollars and instead is funded by recycling vessels from the MARAD's National Defense Reserve Fleet. MHC has received $250,000 to administer the MHC Maritime Heritage Education Subgrant Program and support maritime heritage education projects in Massachusetts.

The MHC Maritime Heritage Education Subgrant Program is a competitive grants program made available to local governments, nonprofit organizations, and tribal entities to advance maritime heritage through public education and to expand public access to maritime history via multiple educational platforms.

The proposed education projects should have a basic goal of teaching the maritime heritage of Massachusetts and facilitating learning and research in the field. Activities should focus on curation, instruction, and interpretation of the three broad categories of historic maritime resources; maritime heritage collections, traditional maritime skills, and historic maritime properties.

Eligible project examples include-but are not limited to- hands-on programs with the use of traditional maritime skills and tools, virtual workshops, online tours, public access to maritime history through website development, development of  software application with interactive stories and games, interpretive signage, walking tours, podcasts, oral histories, story maps, exhibitions, lecture series, shipwright workshops, a digitized catalog of maritime history and minor improvements to existing educational facilities and exhibit spaces.

The subgrants will have a 1:1 matching requirement. Each federal dollar must be matched by one non-federal dollar. Match may be in the form of cash or in-kind donations of time, goods, or services. For grant matching, the non-profit's share (cash or in-kind) must be secured and documented at the time of the award or be available to be spent concurrently, with values based on fair market value at the time of contribution, ensuring it's verifiable and meets specific agency rules (like 2 CFR 200.306 for federal grants) to unlock the main grant funds. This ensures the non-profit has the required resources to fulfill the grant's goals, often unlocking federal funds only after the match is proven.

Applicants can request from $10,000 to $50,000 for total project costs of $20,000 to $100,000. Applicants must obtain and provide a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) issued by the System for Award Management (SAM)<https://usfcr.com/sam-registration/> to identify entities that do business with the federal government.

Applications will be available on January 12, 2026 and posted to MHC's website<https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/mhc/grants/maritime/mhesp.htm>. Application deadline is April 24, 2026. Award notifications are anticipated to be in July, 2026. Projects must be completed by September 30, 2027.
Please view the NPS Maritime Heritage Program website<https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nps.gov%2Forgs%2F1220%2Fmaritimeheritage.htm&data=05%7C01%7CPeter.Boeri%40parks.ny.gov%7C323d98736cf14636e42708dbd95d66df%7Cf46cb8ea79004d108ceb80e8c1c81ee7%7C0%7C0%7C638342767488145122%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=gV9jbu7SwzKL4nAsJMRxoLFjpyTzgaa9N2MlKZwriCg%3D&reserved=0> to learn more about maritime grants and how the program works to foster awareness and appreciation of the many roles waterways and their adjacent lands have played in America's history.

Please contact MHCMaritimeGrants at sec.state.ma.us<mailto:MHCMaritimeGrants at sec.state.ma.us> with any questions or to discuss a potential project.




Paul Holtz
Historical Architect
Co-Director Grants Division
Massachusetts Historical Commission 220 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125
paul.holtz at sec.state.ma.us<mailto:paul.holtz at sec.state.ma.us>
(617) 727-8470 x347



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/pipermail/masshistpres/attachments/20260112/9b10f9d8/attachment.html>