In the first two years that grants have been awarded through the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, three Leflore County organizations have been among the recipients.
One of those, the Museum of the Mississippi Delta, is hoping to land a second grant this year to help fund a new American Indian exhibit.
Cheryl Thornhill, the museum’s executive director, says the Delta National Heritage Area is “one of the only organizations that can really provide funding for museums like us for special exhibits and things like that. There’s very few of that kind of money around, so it really helps us a lot to tell the story.”
The Delta Heritage Area would like to award $200,000 in grants a year, according to its executive director, Dr. Rolando Herts, who spoke to the Greenwood Rotary Club Tuesday. It has come up short of that goal in the first two years, awarding a total of $345,000.
The other previous Leflore County recipients, besides the museum, have been ArtPlace Mississippi and Mississippi Valley State University.
The grants require that the recipient organization provide a dollar-for-dollar match, which can include the value of in-kind services.
The Delta National Heritage Area is managed by The Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University. It is one of three national heritage areas in Mississippi and one of 49 nationwide.
Its stated mission is to promote greater understanding of the 18-county region’s culture and history.
The grant program is one important facet of that mission, Herts said. He encouraged interested groups to make their application by the March 26 deadline for the 2018 grant year. The maximum grant is $24,500.
“We really are trying to get this money out the door,” Herts said.
For more information on the program, go to www.msdeltaheritage.com/grants.
• Contact Tim Kalich at 581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
