Pinellas nonprofits receive ARP grants from Florida Humanities

Eleven Pinellas nonprofits are among the beneficiaries of $1.88 million in grants from Florida Humanities, part of the American Rescue Plan Covid relief package distributed by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

It is the largest single grants initiative Florida Humanities has ever managed, and the most funding it has distributed at one time.

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act was passed by Congress on March 11, 2021. Each state’s humanities council received a portion of the $135 million total allotment.

“If you qualified, you got ten percent of your pre-Covid budget, your 2019 budget for expenses,” said Maureen McDole, executive director of Keep St. Pete Lit.

“Revenue and attendance has been way down the last two years for nonprofits, so this helps ease the strain of recovery for us.”

Keep St. Pete Lit received a grant of $8,500.

“It doesn’t mean the need has gone down,” McDole added. “That’s important, because we’re serving youth with a lot of our programming.”

The complete list of Pinellas recipients:

• Studio@620, Inc., $25,000
• St. Petersburg Museum of History, $25,000
• Dunedin Historical Museum, Inc., $25,000
• Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum, $24,000
• St. Petersburg Preservation, $21,000
• Your Real Stories, Inc., $11,000
• Keep St. Pete Lit, $8,500
• Palm Harbor Historical Society, $5,000
• Pinellas County African American History Museum, $3,500
• Friends of the Gulf Beaches Historical Museum, $3,000
• Gulfport Historical Society, $2,500