Cohen Announces $400,000 Federal Grant for the Clayborn Temple Preservation Project

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today announced that the National Park Service has awarded the City of Memphis's Division of Housing and Community Development a $400,000 federal grant through the African American Civil Rights Grant Program for the Clayborn Temple Preservation Project. Congressman Cohen wrote a letter of support to the National Park Service for the City of Memphis's grant application. You can read Congressman Cohen's letter here.

"I am very pleased to announce that the City of Memphis received a $400,000 federal grant from the National Park Service for the preservation of the historic Clayborn Temple," said Congressman Cohen. "The Clayborn Temple has held a prominent role in our city's and nation's history, serving as the organizing location and starting point for the Memphis Sanitation Workers strike led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. Clayborn Temple focuses to again become a spiritual and cultural hub for the city, as it is the gateway between Downtown, the Central Business District, Beale Street, the FedEx Forum and South City."

"I was proud to help South City secure a $30 million federal Choice Neighborhood Grant in 2015 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to reinvigorate the Foote Homes housing development. I am encouraged by the work of Frank Smith and Rob Thompson who have lead the effort to restore the Clayborn Temple. I would also like to thank Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Paul Young and Felicia Harris from the city's Division of Housing and Community Development for their work on the grant application. I was proud to write a letter of support to the National Park Service for the city's grant application. Clayborn Temple was one of only 39 projects to receive federal funding. Like the National Civil Rights Museum, Clayborn Temple is a phoenix rising from the ashes and part of the Memphis civil rights legacy and trail, which will educate visitors for years to come. There is no more appropriate time for Memphis to receive this grant than at the end of the presidency of Barack Obama, our nation's first African American president, and on the eve of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Congratulations to Clayborn Temple for receiving this significant federal civil rights grant. I look forward to working in the future to help move Memphis forward."

The National Park Service awarded funding to 39 projects in 20 states that will preserve and highlight the sites and stories associated with the Civil Rights Movement and the African American experience. Congress appropriated funding for the National Park Service African American Civil Rights Grant Program in 2016 through the Historic Preservation Fund.