The City of Pensacola has been selected to receive a $22,160 grant from the National Park Service to fund a ground penetrating radar survey at Miraflores Park as part of the Miraflores Burial Ground Study.
The City of Pensacola and Pensacola Energy conducted preliminary ground penetrating radar data collection at Miraflores Park on Monday, May 22, but the grant funding will be instrumental in the city’s ability to conduct a more thorough, controlled GPR survey.
Why this matters: At his weekly presser on Tuesday, Mayor D.C. Reeves and his Cultural Resources Coordinator Adrienne Walker expressed concerns about the next phase of the survey and how to pay for it.
“As the mayor said, this is a very costly type of survey, and we’re starting to get estimates coming in and kind of the lower end of things can be every bit of $10,000 up into close to 25,000 depending on the scale,” said Walker. “We’re looking into grant funding, uh, possible partnerships with UWF as a way to continue it.”
The new grant writer continues to reap dividends for the city.
Dig Deeper:
This grant award is part of $21 million awarded by the National Park Service to 37 projects in 16 states through the Historic Preservation Fund’s African American Civil Rights grant program,which funds preservation projects and efforts of sites tied to the struggle of African Americans to gain equal rights.
“The National Park Service is proud to award this grant funding to our state and local government, and nonprofit partners to help them recognize places and stories related to the African American experience,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams in a news release. “Since 2016, the African American Civil Rights program has provided over $100 million to document, protect, and celebrate the places, people and stories of one of the greatest struggles in American history.”