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New LCHIP Grants Save Special Places

Published Tuesday Dec 1, 2020

New LCHIP Grants Save Special Places

With a new grant from the Land & Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP), the NH Preservation Alliance has funding to continue its program of historic building assessment grants through 2021.  

The Alliance will use its $60,000 award to make up to 15 grants to non-profits and municipalities for historic building assessments. Building assessments are useful tools for groups starting their preservation project or advancing to a new phase.

The process brings preservation professionals, architects, and engineers together to inspect and document a structure’s construction, evolution, and condition, and make recommendations for repair and reuse, along with cost estimates.  The Alliance’s building assessment program has helped property owners and advocates create “road maps” for nearly 80 community landmarks in over 60 towns and cities to date.

“The Preservation Alliance is proud to have been part of the project development process for many of the new LCHIP grant recipients, and extends an invitation to new projects that are seeking funding and guidance for getting started and moving forward,” says Jennifer Goodman, executive director of NH Preservation Alliance.

According to LCHIP staff, this year brought more preservation projects than usual for North Country communities, such as Pittsburg, Stratford, and Berlin. A number of very small towns, including Pittsburg, Stratford, Wentworth, Warren, Effingham, and Grafton received grants to tackle important projects, several are directly or indirectly associated with addressing housing needs. 

Four nonprofits will use their LCHIP grant monies for studies of landmark historic resources: Lakes Region Community Developers (Gale School, Belmont), Canterbury Shaker Village, Portsmouth’s North Church, and the Town of Tilton (Tilton Island Bridge).

“In these uncertain times, this news is a great boost for communities across the state,” says Goodman. “LCHIP grants are matching investments that revive historic landmarks, help protect our sense of community, and drive new economic activity.”

The three recipients this year that were listed to Seven to Save are the Gale School in Belmont, Tilton Island Bridge, and the Willing Workers Hall in Warren. On the natural resource side, family farms (Seven to Save, 2014) in Northumberland and Warner will be conserved thanks to LCHIP funding that for easements secured by land conservation groups.

LCHIP’s $4.1 million in matching historic preservation and land conservation grants were awarded to 32 projects across the state. LCHIP funds will support projects in nine of the state’s ten counties. Grant recipients are required to raise a minimum of one dollar for each dollar provided by LCHIP.  This year’s awards of $4.1 million will be matched by nearly $18 million that the project proponents will raise from other public and private sources, infusing a total of over $22 million into the state’s economy in direct project activity. 

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