
FUNDED PROJECTS
Each year, NJCH receives Incubation and Action Grant funding requests from organizations seeking support for public humanities projects. Through a competitive application process, we award Incubation Grants and Action Grants, from $3,000 to $20,000, to further our mission - to harness the power of the humanities to strengthen our pluralistic society.
Prior grant recipients, including a brief project description for each organization, are listed below.
Incubation Grants
AIDS Resource Foundation for Children, Newark ($15,000), to develop an oral history project that celebrates, uplifts, and connects women in New Jersey who are living at the intersection of HIV/AIDS and domestic violence (HIV/DV).
American Littoral Society, Highlands ($15,000) to support “River Relationships,” a story-gathering project focused on Camden residents’ experiences in relation to pollution of the Delaware River.
Camden Repertory Theater, Camden ($14,400), to design a series of public programs and educational materials exploring the diverse and rich voices of Martie Evans, J.E. Franklin, and Barbara Ann Teer, three lesser-known Black women playwrights whose artistic importance are a part of an invisible yet nevertheless influential cannon of the American Black Arts Movement.
CivicStory, Summit ($12,210) to support the addition of a humanities journalist to the newsroom staff for a four-month evaluation period.
Classis New Brunswick Community Development Corporation, Highland Park ($15,000) to support the development of an interdisciplinary statewide project on art and mass incarceration.
coLAB Arts, New Brunswick ($12,000), to support an oral history and verbatim theater project comprised of oral histories with women, girls, and trans men in the U.S. who have medically self-managed their abortions with tele-medical support from international organization, Aid Access.
Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, Teaneck ($6,098), to explore the concept of “sacred” spaces in a variety of contexts and create resources that can be employed by environmentalists, human rights advocates, community groups to preserve and protect public places and spaces.
Gloucester County Department of Parks and Recreation, Sewell, ($15,000), to support community listening sessions to help inform the organization how to chronicle a recent archeological discovery at their site and shape future public programming.
Gloucester County Historical Society, Woodbury ($8,029) to support “History on the Road,” an inquiry-based “trunk show” to be made available for classroom use in Gloucester County schools.
Hudson County Community College, Jersey City ($14,960) to support an oral history project to document the dramatic changes that have impacted Jersey City and surrounding communities, including rapid real estate development, altered neighborhoods, and resident livelihoods.
Lost Souls Public Memorial Project, Somerset ($5,320), to develop a digital history trail mapping the story of the Lost Souls—137 African Americans from New Jersey who were kidnapped and sold into permanent slavery in the South by a ring organized by a corrupt Middlesex County judge in 1818.
Montclair State University, Montclair ($14,981) to support the Race and Regency Lab, an incubator for new ways to bring the public into community-based dialogues about trade and representation by tapping into renewed interest in the Regency period.
Raíces Cultural Center, New Brunswick ($8,000), to support the planning and development of a publicly accessible oral history library that seeks to document, preserve, and share family stories.
Ramapo College, Mahwah ($15,000) to support “Englewood Makes History,” an initiative to collect and digitize archival materials related to the vibrant history of the City of Englewood, in particular those of African American residents in the 4th Ward and immigrant communities in the 3rd Ward.
Rowan University, Glassboro ($15,000) to support the development of a community-engaged digital archive around celebrations of Juneteenth in New Jersey.
Sussex County Community College, Newton ($5,000) to support the Skylands Research Institute Innovation Lab, a hub for multidisciplinary research and scholarly activity in Northwest New Jersey.
Talking Eyes Media, Montclair ($15,000), to develop an exhibition and live storytelling events using personal narratives captured through The Newark Story Bus, a mobile audio-recording and photography studio that collects oral histories and portraits of the people of Newark.
Truehart Productions, Lambertville ($15,000) to support production of a new installment of “The Price of Silence,” a popular documentary TV series on NJ PBS exploring the history of slavery in New Jersey, which will focus on the Great Migration.
Willingboro Community Development Corporation, Willingboro ($15,000) to support ongoing research and public outreach around New Jersey’s only remaining Futuro house, one of just 19 of its kind in the country.
Action Grants
Asbury Park African-American Music Project, Asbury Park ($10,000) to support the continued documentation of the history and stories of Asbury Park’s Springwood Avenue, known as “Little Harlem,” once a vibrant center for music venues and businesses.
Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice, Princeton ($15,000) to support the development of a repository of the papers, artifacts, and ephemera of Bayard Rustin, chief organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and advocate in the civil rights, nonviolence, and gay rights movements.
Camden County College, Blackwood ($6,125), to support a series public presentations on Colonial America and the American Revolution, with a specific focus on African Americans, Jewish people, and Indigenous Americans.
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children of Essex County, Newark ($15,000) to support interviews conducted by and with individuals who have experience with the child welfare system to document the historic systemic problems that have led to disproportional representation of families of color and the impoverished.
Cranford Public Library, Cranford ($4,300), to host a series of quarterly author and artist talks with a focus on elevating the stories of underrepresented and marginalized voices.
Friends of Yogi, Little Falls ($15,000), to create a technology-driven data visualization exhibition that captures the story of Major League Baseball and COVID-19 as a window into the greater societal and cultural impact of the pandemic.
Gloucester County Library System, Swedesboro ($3,000) to support a speaker series focusing on the history of New Jersey.
Hunterdon County Cultural & Heritage Commission, Flemington ($15,000) to support content creation and revision for the HuntHistory.org website.
In FACT, Willingboro ($13,500), to conduct a broad examination of the R&B Urban Line dance culture and community in the New Jersey through oral histories with dancers, choreographers, DJ's, event producers and other practitioners.
Ironbound Community Corporation, Newark ($15,000), to create and operate a community archive for Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC), a community-based organization that has been organizing for justice and providing educational and family services to residents for more than 50 years.
Jewish Community Center of Central New Jersey, Scotch Plains ($3,600) to support a three-part immersive series exploring the history of racism and antisemitism in Scotch Plains.
Literacy Volunteers of Somerset County Inc., Bridgewater ($12,628) to support the next phase of a continuing project exploring topics related to the diverse cultures served by the organization.
NJ YMCA State Alliance, Hamilton ($15,000), to support the implementation of a multimedia community engagement and dissemination strategy for a COVID-19 storytelling project that documented experiences from participants about impacts and perspectives of NJ residents during the pandemic.
Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, Hackensack ($8,000) to support the development of a website and digital content expounding on the meaning, significance, and process of The Black Women’s Mural in Englewood.
People & Stories / Gente y Cuentos, Lawrenceville ($12,000), to support literature reading and discussion programs in English and Spanish at partner sites throughout NJ.
Returning Citizens Support Group Inc., Newark ($15,000) to support the implementation of Ritual4Return, an arts-based dialogic cultural program exploring the many dimensions of mass incarceration, reentry, and homecoming for citizens who have returned home from prison.
Save Ancient Studies Inc., Teaneck ($15,000) to support the “Archaeogaming Education Program,” which provides teachers with easy-to-use, engaging resources about the Ancient World for use in their classrooms.
T. Thomas Fortune Foundation, Red Bank ($15,000) to support the creation of a permanent exhibit highlighting Fortune’s leading role in the Black Press, including his final years as publisher of the New York Age.
Ukrainian History and Education Center, Somerset ($13,000), to create an exhibition that examines Ukrainian and Ukrainian American responses to the Holodomor, the genocidal artificial famine perpetrated against Ukrainians in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, through primary sources, art, and literature.
Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit ($13,500), to support an interdisciplinary exhibition and accompanying humanities-based public programs that explore the visual art and folklife traditions of the Caribbean diaspora in NJ.
Whitesbog Preservation Trust, Browns Mills ($13,500), to collect oral histories from Whitesbog, Pemberton, and Browns Mills and to host public talks with community scholars on topics related to the history of the New Jersey Pine Barrens.