Humanities Access Grants

Humanities Access grants help support capacity building for humanities programs that benefit one or more of the following groups: youth, communities of color, and economically disadvantaged populations.

Humanities Access grants establish or augment term endowments (that is, endowments whose funds are entirely expended over the course of a set time period) to provide funding for existing programs at institutions such as public libraries, local and regional museums, historical societies, community colleges, HBCUs and tribal colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, archival repositories, and other cultural organizations. Humanities Access grants are intended to seed longer-term endowment-building efforts.

Programs supported by Humanities Access grants might include, for example

• a summer project for teens at a local historical society;
• internships for Native American students at a tribal museum; or
• a Clemente course at a homeless shelter organized by a community college.

Humanities Access Grants offer two years of match-based funding to be expended through a term endowment over the final three years of the five-year grant period. Humanities Access grant funds should not be used to replace existing program funds. Instead, the grant should expand or enhance an existing exemplary humanities program.

Institutions that have never received an NEH grant and small to mid-sized institutions are especially encouraged to apply.