Advocacy Alert: Save America’s Treasures

A message from the Preservation Alliance:

Advocacy Alert: Save America’s Treasures

Historic Preservation Advocacy Week is March 1-5, and the issue at the top of everyone’s agenda is President Obama’s FY2011 budget proposal to eliminate the Save America’s Treasures grant program. In Philadelphia alone, SAT has provided $8.5 million in badly needed bricks-and-mortar preservation funding to three dozen local landmarks and cultural institutions, including Girard College, Eastern State Penitentiary, the Wagner Free Institute, Mother Bethel AME Church, Christ Church and the Race Street Meetinghouse. Paired with matching private funds, these grants create jobs and protect historic resources indispensible to the city’s cultural health and tourist economy. The proposed federal budget, which also eliminates the Preserve America program and significantly reduces funding for National Heritage Areas, has been called the worst for preservation since the late 1980s. Please take five minutes to share your concern with our elected officials by going to the National Trust’s website here.