The Future of Preservation is (Still) at Risk

Historic preservation across the United States remains at risk.

Despite being fully appropriated by Congress for FY 2025, funding from the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) is being withheld, jeopardizing the critical work of State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs) and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs). These offices are essential stewards of our shared cultural heritage—and they’re now facing dramatic layoffs and disruptions to vital programs.

This is more than a budget issue—it’s a cultural emergency.

As we know, SHPOs and THPOs help preserve historic sites, protect sacred lands, support economic revitalization, and amplify community identity. Without access to already-allocated funds, they (and we) simply cannot do the work our communities rely on.

WHAT CAN BE DONE

You can learn more from the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers: HPF Under Threat – NCSHPO, and they provide a letter template for writing to your congress members. Letter and calls to our representatives is one of the only levers we have to influence congress. And we’ve been pulling it. For example, more than 80,000 messages have been sent to Congress via the American Alliance of Museums’ online advocacy tool alone.

Ask Your Representatives to Try Something Different

However, the majority of congress members do support this particular cause–they passed the FY25 budget allocating funds to the HPF. This isn’t necessarily a case of Congress not doing their job (i.e. pass the budget), nor is it a case of them not supporting the funding of history, art, and culture for Americans. They are and they do. They’ve pulled the levers available to them in our civic apparatus and it’s not working. So instead, we recommend asking them to step outside the box and to get creative on how they show up. Many would refer to this as “good trouble” a phrase coined by the late congressman and Civil Rights activist, John Lewis. We’ve seen examples at work recently with congress members using their time at the podium, town halls, news rooms, and cross-country tours to advocate for causes dear to many Americans. We need more of this. Advocacy actions and words matter here and their effects can be cumulative. 

Help Track the Impact – Good Data Helps Us Plan and Repair 

If you, your organization, or anyone in your community have been directly impacted by these funding cuts, we encourage you to log the impact via these impact tracking resources: 

• American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) IMLS, NEH, and NPS Disruption Impact Survey > Select “Other Agency”
• ATALM: Impact of the Loss or Reduction of Federal Funding on Tribal Cultural Institutions Survey > Can indicate THPO as an institution type for self-reporting THPOs (Q.2.), or if you’ve received support from THPO you can indicate the office by selecting “Other” (Q.3.). 

Tracking this data will help the field build effective responses to address the harm inflicted by the withholding of these funds. 

And for those who appreciate data visualization and more holistic tracking, check out The Impact Tracker.

This blog post content was originally included in our community newsletter: The Moment – where we respond quickly and thoughtfully to impactful events and decisions that challenge or disrupt our profession.