Funded Projects and Award Amounts

In addition to a $1,000 upfront award for program participation, each of the nine organizations has been awarded $5,000 to incubate its project idea:

• Four Oranges (West Orange) will research, design, and install a public exhibition that interprets the history of the Erie Railroad's former Orange Branch, exploring its local industrial impact, abolitionist connections, and potential as a future heritage trail.
• Friends of the James Howe House (Montclair) will uncover, interpret, and share the stories of women connected to the historic James Howe House—from its origins as an 18th-century home of a formerly enslaved family to modern preservation efforts—through research, oral history, community dialogue, and collaborative public art.
• Interfaith Neighbors (Asbury Park) will launch the Springwood Avenue Heritage Walk by creating interpretive signage and community storytelling centered on Eddie's (Val's) Barber Shop, the oldest surviving Black-owned business on Asbury Park’s Westside.
• Nassau Presbyterian Church (Princeton) will research, digitize, and interpret the history of the Princeton Cemetery burial ground set aside in 1807 for Black community members, bringing together local partners to honor unmarked graves and educate the public on the arc of local racial history.
• The New Weis Center for Education, Arts and Recreation (Ringwood) will produce a video and public exhibit documenting the history of the property from its origins in the 1920s as Camp Midvale—a race-inclusive nature retreat founded by and welcoming to immigrant families—to its modern role as an accessible nature and recreation center.
• Prallsville Mills / Delaware River Mill Society (Stockton) will conduct in-person and virtual community listening sessions, stakeholder interviews, and strategic review sessions to guide future programming and preservation efforts at the historic mill site.
• Ringwood Public Library will overhaul its upperringwood.org digital archive and website to present multi-media, interactive storytelling on Ringwood’s Revolutionary War history—including the stories of patriot and loyalist veterans, ironworkers, enslaved individuals, and the Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan.
• Say More Poetic Society (Irvington) will create a comprehensive digital archive repository and a community yearbook by collecting oral histories, photo collections, and scanned artifacts across four pillars: local businesses, faith institutions, family life, and civic organizations.
• Vivekananda Vidyapith, Inc. (Wayne) will catalog and digitize 50 years of video recordings—including student presentations, cultural celebrations, and lectures—to preserve the history of the spiritual and character-building academy founded in 1976 and make its archives searchable for future generations.