Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness Project
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California faces an escalating threat from natural disasters, endangering cultural heritage collections and underserved communities. Wildfires, earthquakes, and floods not only jeopardize collections but also worsen socioeconomic disparities. Without proper equipment, funding, or partnerships, many small Californian cultural heritage collections are at risk. The urgency is compounded by climate change’s worsening natural disasters, which can strike quickly and escalate over time.
In response, the California State Library, with funding from the state of California, developed the Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness Project to assist cultural heritage organizations in evaluating risks to their collections and begin taking preparatory or remedial steps. In the first step of this initiative, called Ready – Or Not: Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness Project, organizations are encouraged to assess how ready their organization is in the event of a disaster. Visit the Ready – Or Not main page to see some organizations that have received assistance in assessing their organization’s disaster readiness.
In the second step of the Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness Project, the State Library allocates direct financial support to address disaster preparation needs. For more background information on the California State Library’s work to preserve cultural heritage, please visit Protecting California’s Cultural Heritage.
About Ready — Or Not
Through our collaboration with the Northeast Document Conservation Center, trained preservation consultants help California archives, historical societies, libraries, museums, and tribal nations create disaster preparedness plans to protect at-risk art, historically and culturally significant collections. This ensures future public access, especially to collections held by or featuring California’s underserved and underrepresented communities.
The preservation consultants conduct free site visits for qualifying California organizations stewarding cultural resources and then deliver a report with their observations. Each report includes recommendations for mitigating risks, taking emergency preparedness actions, and completing a disaster plan. This provides organizations with tools to better protect their collections in an emergency, ensuring that California’s cultural heritage is preserved into the future.
California cultural heritage collections interested in a free consultation should contact preservation consultants at CAready@nedcc.org or by phone at 855-501-3020. Visit the “Ready — Or Not” website for more information.
About Groundwork Grants
Funding for disaster readiness is provided to cultural heritage organizations through Groundwork Grants: Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness Project, a grant program developed in partnership with Myriad Consulting & Training. The grant opportunity prioritizes institutions that document the experiences of individuals, groups, and communities whose contributions to California’s history and culture have long been underrepresented in mainstream memory institutions. This collaborative effort will help to safeguard California’s cultural heritage, in its most inclusive form, for generations to come.
Application Information
Round one of Groundwork Grants has closed and those interested in learning more can subscribe to the mailing list at the bottom of the Groundwork Grants contact us page for updates and announcements.
Past application guidelines are available on the Groundwork Grants website. To learn more about the opportunity, check out the Groundwork Grants information slides (PDF).
For more grant information, please contact Grace Bautista at grace@myriadconsultants.org.
Grant Overview
- Goal: To provide funds and resources to collecting institutions, prioritizing those that document underrepresented and historically excluded communities.
- Scope: A California-wide initiative to strengthen emergency readiness for collecting institutions of all types, including nonprofits, higher education institutions, local governments, and Native American Tribal governments.
- Awards: Maximum award amount of $15,000, with options for emergency preparedness support, including disaster planning development, recovery kits, training, supplies and equipment, selected digitization, and more.
Funding Priorities
Any organization that meets the eligibility requirements outlined in the Grant Guidelines is welcome to apply. Applications are encouraged especially from organizations that meet the following priority considerations:
- Highest priority will be given to organizations that represent/document historically underserved, under-represented communities, including but not limited to: African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latinx, or Native American groups; persons with disabilities; persons experiencing poverty or homelessness; veterans; farmworkers; persons identifying as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer; senior residents; immigrants and refugees; and rural communities.
- Priority will also be given to organizations that have received recent preservation assessments, incorporating disaster readiness, through a Ready — Or Not preservation consultation or from other qualified preservation consultant(s).
All applicants will be asked to demonstrate the need for support, typically by providing relevant recommendations received from qualified preservation specialists.