7/7/18

Good News! and July 11 Forum

Dear Friends,

The news came today: We got the grant! 
Preservation Virginia submitted the application in partnership with the Sacred Ground Project, Center for Design Engagement and The Valentine for funding from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund (National Trust for Historic Preservation) and we were awarded the funding!

800 applications were submitted, and ours was one of just 16 selected. Read Preservation Virginia's post about the the two-part economic impact and benefits study this funding will enable. Visit the National Trust's page to see the other fifteen award recipients.


Economic Strategies Forum: July 11 (next Wednesday)

As a way to invite the community to participate in the discussion about economic benefits to Shockoe Bottom's descendant community, we are hosting a series of presentations and discussions on economic development models. The first one will be held next Wednesday evening, July 11, 2018, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at VCU Globe, 830 W. Grace Street in Richmond (23220), on VCU's Monroe Campus. 

The Shockoe Bottom: Economic Strategies Forums - is a series of discussion sessions presented by the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project (Richmond VA) and Center for Design Engagement (Amherst, MA) on the ways in which public history sites, sites of conscience, historically significant sites can be the catalyst for economic development. 

As one of the elements of the Community Proposal for a Shockoe Bottom Memorial Park, economic benefit to the descendant community of Richmond's most notorious slave trading district could require "out of the box" thinking about education, marketable skills, and institutional commitment in both the private and public sectors: connecting education, employment, entrepreneurship, land trusts and home ownership stability.