Museum Grants for African American History and Culture

$31.9 Million committed in FY2018–FY2026

Agency: The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Institute of Museum and Library Services
Assistance: Project Grants;Direct Payments for Specified Use
CFDA number: 45.309
What it does: Museum Grants for African American History and Culture (AAHC) is designed to build the capacity of African American museums and support the growth and development of museum professionals at African American museums. The program supports projects that nurture museum professionals, build institutional capacity, and increase access to museum and archival collections at African American museums and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The program has two goals with three or four objectives each. GOAL 1: Build the capacity of African American museums and their ability to serve their communities. Obj. 1.1: Develop, enhance, or expand public programs, exhibitions, and/or school programs. Obj. 1.2: Enhance museum operations and professional management. Obj. 1.3: Expand and improve access to collections. Obj. 1.4: Foster partnerships and collaborations among museums and institutions of higher education, particularly Historically Black Colleges and Universities. GOAL 2: Support the growth and development of museum professionals at African American museums. Obj. 2.1: Develop and implement internship, fellowship, and mentoring programs structured to support emerging professionals entering the museum field. Obj. 2.2: Develop and implement equitable and inclusive staff recruitment and retention programs. Obj. 2.3: Create learning and growth opportunities designed to build skills, enhance knowledge, and provide opportunities to share expertise.
Who benefits: Not Applicable
Who applies: An applicant to Museum Grants for African American History and Culture must meet geographic and governance criteria and qualify as one of following types of organizations: 1. A museum whose primary purpose, as reflected in its mission, is African American life, art, history, and/or culture, encompassing: the period of slavery; the era of Reconstruction; the Harlem renaissance; the civil rights movement; and other periods of the African American diaspora; and using a professional staff, is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational, cultural heritage or aesthetic purposes; owns or uses tangible objects, either animate or inanimate; cares for these objects; and exhibits these objects to the general public on a regular basis through facilities that it owns or operates. For more information, please see 2 C.F.R. Â§3187.3. 2. A public or private nonprofit agency that is responsible for the operation of a museum that meets the eligibility criteria in 1, 2, and 3(a), applying on behalf of the museum. 3. A museum service organization or association whose primary purpose, as reflected in its mission, is to support museums whose primary purpose, as reflected in their mission, is African American life, art, history and/or culture; or 4. A historically black college or university, as defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, 20 U.S.C. Section 1061, and pursuant to Executive Order 13256, dated February 12, 2002.

Committed by fiscal year

* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.

Top recipients

By dollars committed.

How to read these numbers

Committed through this program: Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
How it's paid: Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
Some recipients aren't itemized: For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
Awards, counted once: An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
The colored bars: Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments

Source

USAspending.gov ↗

Museum Grants for African American History and Culture

$31.9 Million committed in FY2018–FY2026

Agency: The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Institute of Museum and Library Services
Assistance: Project Grants;Direct Payments for Specified Use
CFDA number: 45.309
What it does: Museum Grants for African American History and Culture (AAHC) is designed to build the capacity of African American museums and support the growth and development of museum professionals at African American museums. The program supports projects that nurture museum professionals, build institutional capacity, and increase access to museum and archival collections at African American museums and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The program has two goals with three or four objectives each. GOAL 1: Build the capacity of African American museums and their ability to serve their communities. Obj. 1.1: Develop, enhance, or expand public programs, exhibitions, and/or school programs. Obj. 1.2: Enhance museum operations and professional management. Obj. 1.3: Expand and improve access to collections. Obj. 1.4: Foster partnerships and collaborations among museums and institutions of higher education, particularly Historically Black Colleges and Universities. GOAL 2: Support the growth and development of museum professionals at African American museums. Obj. 2.1: Develop and implement internship, fellowship, and mentoring programs structured to support emerging professionals entering the museum field. Obj. 2.2: Develop and implement equitable and inclusive staff recruitment and retention programs. Obj. 2.3: Create learning and growth opportunities designed to build skills, enhance knowledge, and provide opportunities to share expertise.
Who benefits: Not Applicable
Who applies: An applicant to Museum Grants for African American History and Culture must meet geographic and governance criteria and qualify as one of following types of organizations: 1. A museum whose primary purpose, as reflected in its mission, is African American life, art, history, and/or culture, encompassing: the period of slavery; the era of Reconstruction; the Harlem renaissance; the civil rights movement; and other periods of the African American diaspora; and using a professional staff, is organized on a permanent basis for essentially educational, cultural heritage or aesthetic purposes; owns or uses tangible objects, either animate or inanimate; cares for these objects; and exhibits these objects to the general public on a regular basis through facilities that it owns or operates. For more information, please see 2 C.F.R. Â§3187.3. 2. A public or private nonprofit agency that is responsible for the operation of a museum that meets the eligibility criteria in 1, 2, and 3(a), applying on behalf of the museum. 3. A museum service organization or association whose primary purpose, as reflected in its mission, is to support museums whose primary purpose, as reflected in their mission, is African American life, art, history and/or culture; or 4. A historically black college or university, as defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, 20 U.S.C. Section 1061, and pursuant to Executive Order 13256, dated February 12, 2002.