Eastern Shore Heritage, Inc. (ESHI), the managing entity for the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area, is now seeking grant applications for small projects that enhance heritage tourism, museum programming, stewardship, and community heritage activities in Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot Counties.

Nonprofit groups and governmental agencies may apply for up to $2,500, with a minimum dollar-for-dollar match. Eligible non-capital projects include planning, design, interpretation, events, and programming.

The application deadline is June 15, 2009. A draft submission by May 11 qualifies prospective applicants for coaching. Projects are limited to those starting after July 31, 2009 and before December 31, 2009 and must be completed within 12 months. Potential applicants who have not attended an ESHI grant-writing workshop in the previous 12 months are urged to attend a workshop scheduled for April 30, 2009, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Chesapeake College in Room 110 of the Higher Education Center. All applicants are strongly advised to discuss grant ideas with the staff or members of ESHI’s board of directors prior to applying.

Paulette P. Greene, ESHI’s president, stated, “Though small, these grants have helped a great deal to enlarge the number of stories we can tell in this region. Over the past four years, 22 organizations have won these mini-grants. Even those who have been unsuccessful so far have gained valuable experience in grant writing. Therefore, we expect this grant round to be highly competitive.”

Project requirements include grantees providing a match of at least 100 percent. A minimum of 75 percent of the match must be in cash; the remainder may be in donated services and products or volunteer labor. Applicants must be located in the state-certified portion of the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area, which currently includes most unincorporated areas of Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot Counties. It also includes 18 towns: Betterton, Centreville, Chestertown,Denton, Easton, Goldsboro, Greensboro, Hillsboro, Millington, Oxford, Preston, Queen Anne, Queenstown, Ridgely, Rock Hall, and Sudlersville. Federalsburg andGalena are expected to be added to the Certified Heritage Area by formal action of the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority in July 2009 and thus applicants from those towns also qualify for this grant round.

For more information about the grant process or to register for the April 30 workshop, please contact Elizabeth Watson at 410-778-1460 orewatson@storiesofthechesapeake.org.
The Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area was begun in the late 1990’s by a group of citizens and public officials seeking ways for Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot counties to enjoy the benefits of the state’s heritage tourism program. Since ESHI began giving out $10,000 annually through the Small Grants program in 2006, 22 organizations and 27 projects have benefited. The heritage area is managed by Eastern Shore Heritage, Inc. (ESHI), a not-for-profit organization. Today, the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area represents the collaborative efforts of nearly 75 nonprofit and governmental institutions and more than 600 local businesses involved in heritage tourism in four counties and 18 towns. For more information about the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area, visitwww.storiesofthechesapeake.org.

“Eastern Shore Heritage, Inc. (ESHI), the managing entity for the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area, is now seeking grant applications for small projects that enhance heritage tourism, museum programming, stewardship, and community heritage activities in Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot Counties. The application deadline for this year is November 19, 2008.

Nonprofit groups and governmental agencies may apply for up to $2,500 in matching “”small grants,”” limited to non-capital projects within the four counties. Eligible non-capital projects include planning, design, interpretation, events, and programming.

Last year, grants were limited to $1,500 each due to the high volume of applications, according to Paulette P. Greene, president of Eastern Shore Heritage, Inc., who added, “These grants will all help to enlarge the number of stories we can tell in this region.”

Elizabeth Watson, ESHI’s executive director, said that potential applicants are invited to send representatives to attend ESHI’s grants workshop on the morning of October 30 at Chesapeake College. The workshop will also cover other state and federal grant programs available to interpretive programs in the heritage area, including the larger heritage grants available through statewide competition with a deadline in January of 2009.

Watson stated, “”We expect this grant round to be highly competitive, as over the past three years we have seen a number of organizations in the region gain valuable experience in grant writing. We are pleased with the interest that has been generated in both heritage tourism and stewardship of the critical historic and natural resources in the region.”

Last year’s grantees included the Caroline County Historical Society for historical documentation of an Underground Railroad site near Preston on the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway; the town of Ridgely for interpretive planning for an early 20th-century telephone building recently moved by the Caroline County Historical Society to a location near the town’s planned rail-trail; the African American Schoolhouse Museum & Council of Kent County and the Phillips Wharf Environmental Center of Tilghman Island, both for outdoor interpretive signs; the Prince Theatre Foundation of Chestertown for continued work on the “Stories of Our Elders” program linking school students to seniors to collect oral histories and create theater performances; the Kent Island Heritage Society for assistance in re-opening the James E. Kirwan Museum to the public after its country-store collection was damaged last winter when pipes burst; and the Historical Society of Talbot County, which assisted a citizens’ group in Tunis Mills in creating an interpretive exhibit on the village’s history when the annual Maryland House & Garden Pilgrimage tour occurred there.

Project requirements include grantees providing a match of at least 100 percent. A minimum of 75 percent of the match must be in cash; the remainder may be in donated services and products or volunteer labor. Applicants must be located in the state-certified portion of the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area, which currently includes most unincorporated areas of Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and TalbotCounties. It also includes the following towns: Betterton, Centreville, Chestertown, Denton, Easton,Goldsboro, Greensboro, Hillsboro, Millington, Preston, Queen Anne, Queenstown, Ridgely, Rock Hall, and Sudlersville. Oxford is expected to be added to the Certified Heritage Area by formal action of the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority in October 2008 and thus Oxford-based applicants also qualify for this grant round.

For more information about the grant process, the Management Plan for the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area, or to register for the October 30 workshop, please contact Elizabeth Watson at 410-778-1460 or ewatson@storiesofthechesapeake.org. All applicants are strongly advised to discuss grant ideas with the staff or members of the board of directors of Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area prior to applying. The postmark deadline for applications is November 19, 2008. The deadline for registering for the workshop is October 27.
The Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area was begun in the late 1990’s by a group of citizens and public officials seeking ways for Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot counties to enjoy the benefits of the state’s heritage tourism program. The heritage area is managed by Eastern Shore Heritage, Inc. (ESHI), a not-for-profit organization. Today, the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area represents the collaborative efforts of nearly 75 nonprofit and governmental institutions and more than 600 local businesses involved in heritage tourism in four counties and 21 towns. Since the heritage area was certified by the State of Maryland in 2005, 23 nonprofit and governmental bodies have received funding from either Eastern Shore Heritage, Inc., or the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority. For more information about the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area, visit www.storiesofthechesapeake.org.”