Prepared for House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies by Ted Lord, Executive Director of Humanities Washington; Addressing the National Endowment for the Humanities, April 19, 2007
Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to present testimony on behalf of the state humanities councils, the state-based programs of the National Endowment for the Humanities. I am here to support the humanities community request of $177 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities and to request an increase of $30 million over the next two to three years for the Federal-State Partnership, to begin to address the many unmet programming needs identified in the communities served by state humanities councils.
In my home state of Washington, we are excited by the opportunity to grow three of our core programs. We have developed a new partnership with the Migrant Council, training volunteers this past March in Sunnyside in the Motheread/Fatheread family literacy curriculum, and building home libraries by distributing a free classic children’s books to families at each weekly lesson. We are piloting a reading and reflection series for AmeriCorps volunteers in Yakima and Seattle on the meaning of their service, using poems and essays to center discussions on what public service means. And as part of our “We the People” funding, we are touring a panel exhibit called Washington Stories to museums and libraries statewide. Seven ethnic and tribal groups spent a year collecting and learning to display their oral histories, documents, and photographs to tell their story. Included are groups such as the Black Historical Society of Kitsap County, the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe, and the Tar Heels who moved from North Carolina to Skagit County in the early 1900s. Increased federal support would allow us to leverage these three endeavors: by expanding our literacy work with the Migrant Council to 16 other sites statewide; by working with multiple groups of AmeriCorps volunteers to reflect on their service; and by encouraging additional ethnic and tribal groups to become public historians of their heritage.
The state humanities councils were created in the early 1970s, pursuant to the original act creating the NEH, to provide local access to the humanities through public programs offered in communities throughout the state. The councils are seen as full partners of the NEH, receiving their core funding through the Federal-State Partnership line of the NEH budget and using that funding to leverage additional funding from state government, foundations, corporations, and private individuals. Unlike the other programs in the Endowment, the councils operate as independent nonprofit organizations charged with conducting a statewide program supported entirely by their federal funding and the other funds they leverage through those federal dollars.
For the Washington council, as for all the other councils, the needs increasingly outstrip available resources. Following the severe cuts of the mid-1990s, funding for the NEH and the state humanities councils has continued to decline in real dollars. The Federal-State Partnership line in the NEH budget has been basically flat for more than a decade, and yet, since 1995 the nation’s population has increased by 15 percent, and the rate of inflation has been 35 percent. Meanwhile, the needs have steadily grown for programs that address illiteracy, support humanities teaching, and contribute to the understanding of our democratic institutions and culture. Further, new but costly technologies present expanded opportunities that councils are attempting to use in fulfilling their missions and responding to community needs.
A recent study conducted by the Federation of State Humanities Councils illustrates the challenge. Along with the extremely important grants that councils make to local institutions and organizations, the Federation identified four key areas of programming that councils carry out in their states: 1) Support for humanities education, including funding for both teacher development and classroom programs, 2) reading and literacy, 3) media and technology, and 4) community and institution building. Data the Federation collected about all these areas of programming reveal unmet programming needs in the amount of $50 million in communities throughout the states. In other words, councils could expend $50 million above what they are now providing to support critically important humanities education for both teachers and students; improve the reading skills of parents and children; create additional opportunities for community residents to explore their own history, learn about the cultures of their new neighbors, and discuss issues of vital importance to their future; and expand the use of technology to engage citizens in the study of their local and national history. With an increase of $30 million in federal funds over the next two to three years, councils could leverage the additional funding at the state and local level to begin to meet these pressing needs.
These calculations do not take into account the many new areas of programming that councils are exploring daily to strengthen the underpinnings of democracy–expanded programs that involve young people in the understanding of history and ethics and prepare them for productive engagement in the civic process; strategic support for the cultural institutions that sustain public life throughout their states; and new technologies that offer the possibility for engaging and educating greater numbers of people.
In grantmaking alone, councils nationally expend more than $15 million, funding half to two-thirds of the requests they receive. But a survey of the councils reveals that these figures are far from defining actual needs, because councils discourage funding proposals from community groups when they see that they are reaching the end of their available grant funds for the year. With adequate resources, councils could easily provide three to four times the dollar amount in grants for programs designed by local groups to improve the understanding of history and engage citizens in the lives of their communities. Further, because each federal dollar must be matched by dollars at the local level and often leverage many times the amount of the council grant, the increase in the federal investment would multiply the funding available for humanities programs at the state and local level.
Many councils, in an effort to achieve maximum impact with their grant funds, develop special grant initiatives addressing particular needs in their states. The Kentucky Humanities Council, for example, through their “Lincoln Interpretive Grants” program, will provide grants to nonprofits throughout Kentucky to plan and implement high-quality programs defining and interpreting the Lincoln era in Kentucky, including the Underground Railroad and the Civil War. The New Mexico Humanities Council developed an initiative called “Bridges and Fences,” based in part on the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street “Between Fences” exhibit that toured the state in 2006, to initiate dialogue among the diverse communities of the state about divisive historic events. The African-American Heritage Program conceived and supported by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities is the first project in that state to systematically capture the cultural history of the African-American community, through a database of historic sites, grants, publications, and a community partnership initiative. Through each of these initiatives and many others, councils are serving a unique and vital role in capturing endangered legacies and prompting important public dialogue.
In other areas of programming the picture is equally compelling, with needs and demand for resources far outstripping the funding available. The following are only very brief examples of the important roles councils are playing and the potential for expansion.
Support for humanities education. A solid grounding in history, literature, and other areas of the humanities is the most valuable foundation we can offer our children as they begin the road to becoming engaged and responsible citizens. The teachers who provide this grounding deserve access to all the resources possible to improve their own knowledge and build their enthusiasm for the task. Councils across the country play a key role in offering content-based professional development for our nation’s teachers at a surprisingly modest cost. The New Hampshire Humanities Council, for example, this year is offering not only a summer institute on poetry but also a series of one-day workshops on voting history in the nation. The Florida Humanities Council, through their Florida Center for Teachers, provides week-long education on frequently focused on topics mandated but not funded by the state. Councils provide important web-based resources for teachers, as well as curriculum development and classroom programs.
Reading and literacy. Councils also help strengthen not only reading skills but also family ties with their support for family reading programs such as the very successful and widespread Motheread and Prime Time programs. Councils in more than a dozen states offer training and curriculum development for Motheread instructors who work with small groups of parents and children to read and discuss high-quality children’s literature. Prime Time, developed by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities in 1991, focuses on low-income families with children aged six through ten, encouraging family reading and discussion and promoting use of libraries. Several councils have specifically included immigrant family in these programs, easing their transition into their new homes and strengthening their language development.
Other councils have designed their own programs shaped for specific audiences. The Missouri Humanities Council offers a program called Read from the Start for at-risk parents of children one to five years of age. The New York Council for the Humanities offers “Together–Book Talk for Kids and Parents” to involve parents and their nine-to-eleven-year-old children in discussion of issues about American identity and culture, using children’s books that address such themes as “courage” or “freedom.” Their program aims to encourage the habit of reading and discussing books and strengthening family relationships in the process. The demand for these council-supported family literacy programs across the nation is such that the current investment of $10 million could easily be doubled and still not meet the demonstrated needs.
In addition, many councils encourage the practice of reading and discussing books within communities as a forum for exchanging ideas on issues of concern, anchored in a common text. One of the Maine Humanities Council’s reading and discussion series, for example, is entitled “Behind the Headlines: An Introduction to the Middle East.” Councils also use these programs as a way to strengthen institutions in their state. The Pennsylvania Humanities Council’s “Read About It” program has a two-fold purpose–to expose a wide demographic of readers to new authors and to help develop the network of libraries in their state as community learning centers.
Media and technology. Councils are increasingly expanding their use of media and technology, not only to increase the audiences for their programs but to include new audiences, such as younger people, who are more comfortable with electronic forms of communication. They are also using technology to provide programming not available through other means. Humanities Tennessee is nearing completion of a web-based guide to the Unicoi Turnpike Trail, supported by NEH “We the People” funding, which the council has developed with its Story Mapper software application. Using a Google Maps interface, the guide shows points of interest on this historic trail, each accompanied by a digital image or audio or video files providing an interpretive narrative of the trail by those familiar with it. The council will provide training and support to organizations and individuals who can use the software to produce cultural tours, cultural resource inventories, virtual museum exhibitions, or K-12 lesson plans.
Several other projects provide a glimpse of the dazzling variety of content and purpose councils pursue in using these technologies. The Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities has been educating residents about their state’s history for three years through daily “Massachusetts Moments” aired on commercial radio and made available on a website that offers readers the opportunity for further reading. The California Council for the Humanities, now in the third year of their multi-year initiative entitled “California Stories,” has launched a new program, “As I See It,” which uses a variety of media to allow young people from diverse backgrounds to explore community and personal issues and present their thoughts, ideas, and discoveries to the public, gaining new skills and perspectives in the process. The Arizona Humanities Council’s “Arizona Heritage Traveler Web Site,” launched in collaboration with the Arizona Office of Tourism, features nearly 300 heritage destinations throughout the state, allowing travelers to design trips based on topics ranging from Native American history to contemporary architecture and astronomy.
Community and institution-building. Among the most important functions state councils serve is to provide programs and services that bring communities together and strengthen local institutions. The Pennsylvania Humanities Council’s special initiative, “Our Stories, Our Future,” provides a variety of settings and formats for citizens of the state to reflect on stories from American history that highlight issues important to how we live our lives today. The council helps civic groups take leadership in their communities by shaping projects that illuminate current concerns and advance knowledge of the American experience. The Connecticut Humanities Council, through its Statewide Heritage Advancement Program, assists heritage institutions in addressing organizational needs identified through a formal strategic planning process. This ongoing program strengthens the museums and other history institutions that present the state’s story to both residents and tourists.
With 30 years of experience, humanities councils have become remarkably effective in extending the reach of NEH programs to a wide variety of communities through an array of programs that provide resources for teachers, support scholars, increase literacy, offer opportunities for community discussions, and educate the public. With the additional federal investment of $30 million that we are requesting over the next two to three years, we could do so much more.