“It’s vital for America’s HBCUs to preserve their vibrant history, ensuring that the places and the events that happened there are not forgotten,” National Park Service Director Chuck Sams said in a press release. “I’m proud that the National Park Service can support this locally-led stewardship.”

Efforts will kick start this year with grants to support repairs at Simmons College in Kentucky, Delaware State University and Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. The grant will help rehabilitate historic infrastructure like Delaware State’s Hope House, a pre-1885 three-story frame building that will soon provide campus social services.

At Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, funding will help restore Melrose Cottage, built around 1785. It served as the university president’s house in the first half of the 20th century and was later listed in the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The building will house the welcome center for campus tours and the admission team.

Most universities will receive around $750,000 toward infrastructure repairs. FAMU was awarded $749,997 to rehabilitate the Carnegie Library, while Jackson State University was given $198,564 for the preservation of its Zachary T. Hubert Health Center. Alcorn State University is receiving the subsequent sum of $2,222,400, which will be put toward repairs of Harmon Hall, the rehabilitation of dormitories and the Belles Lettres Hall.

Funding was approved by Congress through the Historic Preservation Fund, which uses revenue from federal oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf to assist with preservation projects. Created in 1977, the HPF authorized $150 million per year through 2024. So far, it has provided over $2 billion to states, tribes, local governments and nonprofits to help them preserve historic resources tied to Civil Rights, Tribal Heritage and more.