Our funding announcements often highlight the support that we provide to New Jersey nonprofit organizations through our Incubation and Action Grant program. Today our news is a little different. We are proud to share that the New Jersey Council for the Humanities was recently awarded two different grants, one through the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (in conjunction with the Federation of State Humanities Councils) and one through the New Jersey Cultural Trust. As the nonprofit state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, we are always seeking funding opportunities that enable us to expand programming and meet the needs of the residents of New Jersey.

The New Jersey Cultural Trust, created in July 2000 as a public/private partnership to help ensure a stable and healthy nonprofit cultural industry in New Jersey, awarded NJCH $35,000 to update its technology infrastructure. Funding from this award will allow the Council to address essential hardware and software needs and work with IT professionals to implement technological best practices.

About a month after receiving the NJCT notification, we learned that our grant request through the Federation of State Humanities Councils to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the “Democracy and the Informed Citizen” initiative was awarded. This funding, $28,500, will support an exploration of how the public interacts and engages with media. For the effort, NJCH will work with journalists and the communities involved with the Transform South Jersey project in 2020 to pilot a program that promotes community partnership and an informed citizenry.

Both projects will further the work of the Council in different ways. We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to the New Jersey Cultural Trust, the Federation of State Humanities Councils, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for their support.