Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona Launches Grant Opportunity

The Route 66 Arizona license plate will fund the grants program.

The Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona is launching a new program to support Route 66 in Arizona. The Association is partnering with the Arizona Community Foundation to award grants to non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and local, state, and tribal government agencies.
 
The Route 66 Arizona grant seeks applicants who support the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona’s mission to preserve, promote, or protect Route 66 in Arizona. They will also consider projects that focus on planning, education and research projects.
 
The Association receives revenue annually from the Arizona Route 66 license plate they launched in December 2016. A fiscally transparent constant program that supports Route 66 in Arizona was needed to properly distribute/inject the funds back into the Route 66 community.
 
The Association has supported several projects organized by non-profit organizations with the license plate revenue including the repainting of the mural at Standin’ On The Corner Park in Winslow, the renovation of an exhibit space in the Arizona Route 66 Museum in Kingman, stencils and paint for shields in the road in Parks, a donation for paint and stucco work at the Painted Desert Trading Post, and the creation of an endowment at NAU’s Cline Library where the state’s Route 66 archives are collected and housed. Together, over $80,000 has been contributed to these initiatives. The development of a program of this scale has been tedious and time consuming, but the Association is passionate about responsibly supporting their favorite road.
 
“We feel the timing of the launch will be impactful. We know organizations and governments have had to make difficult decisions to cut budgets and put off projects. We want to help fill the gaps.” Said Nikki Seegers, Director of Operations at the Association.
 
The grant application will be posted on the Arizona Community Foundation’s website starting August 3rd, 2020.  Interested organizations can submit their applications through September 7th at 5 p.m. All applications and supporting materials will be collected by the Arizona Community Foundation, who will also be available for questions or assistance navigating the application process. Proposals will be accepted for minimum budgets of $1,000 and up to a maximum of $25,000.
 
This will be the first grant cycle of what the Association plans on granting annually. Grant awards will be announced in November 2020. “We are so excited to finally share this good news and see the creativity of the Route 66 Arizona community in growing and preserving our state treasure.” said Nikki Seegers, Director of Operations at the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona.
 
To view the grant application, visit the Arizona Community Foundation’s website at www.azfoundation.org/grants. Questions about the application process? Please contact grants@azfoundation.org.
 
The Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona was founded in 1987 with the goal of restarting the Arizona Route 66 economy. It’s first accomplishment was designating Route 66 historic from Seligman to Kingman. Now, more than 32 years later, the Association is still working to preserve, promote, and protect Route 66 in Arizona.

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