Omaha

Historic Calvin Memorial Presbyterian Church to Receive $100,000 From African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund

Mundo Latino Network

$4 Million Awarded to Help Protect 31 Historic Black Churches across the country.

Omaha, NE – Thr POC Collaborative Community has received $100,000.00 in funding from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

This funding will allow POC Collaborative to:
1. Securere sources and skills for maintaining the Calvin Memoria Presbyterian Church

(CMPC) located in the heart of North Omaha;

  1. Assess the church’s physical structure;
  2. Develop an accurate budget for redevelopment, and;
  3. Demonstrate the feasibility and necessity of breathing new ifei into this space.

This grant is the first phase in a multi-year redevelopment process that will continue to engage residents and other stakeholders as we move forward.

Since 2017, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund has raised more than $91 million in philanthropic funding, and serves as the largest U.S. resource dedicated to the preservation of African American historic places.

“Our community is ready for a renaissance, and this is the first step for us – planning the best approach to preserve and repurpose this iconic North Omaha landmark and its rich history for future generations,” POC Collaborative Executive Director Katrina Adams said.

“We created the Preserving Black Churches program to ensure the historic Black church’s legacy is told and secured. That these cultural assets can continue to foster community resilience and drive meaningful change in our society,” said Brent Leggs, Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. “We couldn’t be more excited to honor our second round of grantees and ensure that African Americans – and our entire nation – can enjoy an empowered future built on the inspiring foundations of our past.”

“Black churches have been at the forefront of meaningful democratic reform since this nation’s founding. They’re a living testament to the resilience of our ancestors in the face of unimaginably daunting challenges,” said Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., historian, and advisor to the Action Fund. “The heart of our spiritual world is the Black church. These places of worship, these sacred cultural centers, must exist for future generations to understand who we were as a people.”

POC Collaborative was founded on the following principles: to be a Point of Connection for People of Color to leverage the Power of Community, to Protect, Organize, and Create the future of our dreams.

As such we are focused on:
• Preserving the historic CMPC building
• Evolving Omaha’s entrepreneurship ecosystem to be more inclusive
• Providing programs and services to for-profit and nonprofit businesses • Supporting emerging and established community leaders

Our work focuses on strengthening the economic fabric of our community through entrepreneurship training, business development programs and services. Additionally, we intend is to redevelop this space as a community center with access to technology, entrepreneurship and nonprofit services, and other community-focused amenities.

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About the POC Collaborative: Steered by an asset-based approach to community development, POC Collaborative identifies, organizes, and deploys the resources
already found in the community to mobilize individuals, associations, and institutions to come together around shared goals. Located in the historic heart of North Omaha, POC Collaborative’s Resource Center serves as an inclusive space for BIPOC professional and entrepreneurial development, a co-working and community gathering space, and a vehicle for strategic investment in emerging businesses.

About the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund: African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation that works to make an important and lasting contribution to our cultural landscape by elevating the stories and places of African American resilience, activism, and achievement. With more than $90 million in funding, the Action Fund is the largest U.S. resource dedicated to the preservation of African American historic places.

To learn more about our mission to tell the full American story, visit https://savingplaces. org/african-american-cultural-heritage.