Partners In Preservation - New Orleans Initiative

faq

FAQ

What is American Express Partners in Preservation?

Why is site preservation so important?

How has American Express been involved in preservation previously?

What was involved in the 2007 Partners in Preservation Initiative?

What is involved in the 2008 Partners in Preservation initiative?

Why target New Orleans with this initiative?

How were the 9 sites selected?

What is the National Trust for Historic Preservation and how is it connected to American Express?

What is the World Monuments Fund and how is it connected to American Express?

How can I get more involved in preserving historic sites in New Orleans?

How are the amounts of the grants decided?

Who provides the grant funding for this initiative?

When and how will the grant recipients be announced?

How can I share my story?

How do I upload photos?

Whom can I contact for help with technical difficulties?

What is American Express Partners in Preservation?
American Express Partners in Preservation is a $5 million, five-year commitment to historic preservation that seeks to increase public awareness of the importance of historic preservation in the United States to help save important historic and cultural landmarks, and to strengthen local communities. It is a joint effort between American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the U.S.

The program is now in its third year focusing on sites affected by Hurrican Katrina in New Orleans. The 2007 featured Chicago and its surrounding counties, and launched in 2006 with the San Francisco Bay Area as its first focus.

Why is site preservation so important?
Preservation connects us to our history and helps us collectively shape the future of America's story by saving the places where great moments from history and the important moments of our everyday lives took place. When historic buildings and neighborhoods are torn down or allowed to deteriorate, a part of our past disappears forever.

When that happens, we lose history that helps us know who we are and we lose opportunities to live and work in a rich architectural environment that layers the past with the present. Preservation helps create lively, vital communities by sparking economic development, and helps save our earth's natural resources by reusing what's already been built.

How has American Express been involved in preservation previously?
In September 2006, with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, American Express allocated $1 million in preservation grants to the First Church of Christ, Scientist and 13 additional sites in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the selected sites have already broken ground, while others are finalizing their planning to assure successful project completion in 2008.

The American Express Partners in Preservation program builds upon the company's decade-long relationship with the World Monuments Fund (WMF) and establishes a partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The program is dedicated to preserving sites both in the U.S. and around the world.

American Express is the founding sponsor of WMF's World Monuments Watch program, established in 1995 to call international attention to and ensure the preservation of cultural heritage sites around the world that are threatened by neglect, vandalism, armed conflict or natural disaster. Over the past ten years American Express has helped to preserve 126 sites in 62 countries from the World Monuments Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites and other World Monuments Fund programs.

American Express also supports hundreds of nonprofit organizations each year through its foundation and corporate giving activities. Grants are made under the Cultural Heritage, Leadership and Community Service themes that reflect the Company's values and complement its business priorities.

Please visit our website for details.

What was involved in the 2007 Partners in Preservation Initiative?
The focus of the 2007 Partners in Preservation program in the United States was on Chicago and its surrounding communities. You can learn more by exploring www.partnersinpreservation.org/chicago. Outside of the US, American Express, through a partnership with the National Trust of Australia, will provide grants to help preserve and care for historic sites in the New South Wales council areas of Sydney, Mosman and Waverley.

What is involved in the 2008 Partners in Preservation initiative?
This year's Partners in Preservation initiative focuses on New Orleans in honor of the city's restoration and redevelopment efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The city was selected as a top priority to support preservation and recovery efforts that will ensure the survival of the area's rich cultural assets and heritage tourism. Nine historic sites in areas affected by Katrina have been selected as grant recipients of the $400,000 that American Express has committed to this effort in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Why target New Orleans with this initiative?
In a country where most metropolitan areas look very much alike, New Orleans is a city that is peerless. Many of its architectural wonders - the famous cast-iron galleries of the French Quarter and the creole cottages, shotgun houses and colorful raised bungalows taht grac other neighborhoods - simply aren't found anywhere else. New Orleans is a richly unique, authentic historic community that is reinventing itself through preservation-based revitalization. For these reasons, and to raise awareness of some of the region's most important, but often not widely recognized "hidden gems," American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation selected New Orleans as the site of this year's Partners in Preservation grant program.

How were the 9 sites selected?
Nine sites in neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Katrina have been identified for the 2008 Partners in Preservation Program. They were selected using the following criteria:

Community Anchor: a gathering place for the community (e.g., church, community center) damaged by Hurricane Katrina

Historic significance: Sites must be either listed on or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and must reflect the rich heritage of New Orleans.

Project Plan: There must be a clearly articulated project plan for the preservation of the site that stipulates how the goal will be realized.

Organizational excellence: The site steward must demonstrate organizational excellence to take the project from concept to completion within a set budget and time frame.

Completion date: The preservation project must be completed by June 2009.
In addition, community and public support for the sites shared through stories, photos and comments that are posted at www.partnersinpreservation.com will be factored as well.

What is the National Trust for Historic Preservation and how is it connected to American Express?
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a private, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to saving historic places and revitalizing America's communities. Founded in 1949 and recipient of the National Humanities Medal, the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education, advocacy, and resources to protect the irreplaceable places that tell America's story. Staff at the Washington, D.C., headquarters, six regional offices and 29 historic sites work with more than 270,000 members and thousands of preservation groups in all 50 states.

Through this powerful network the National Trust for Historic Preservation is revitalizing communities across the country and bringing people together to protect, improve and enjoy the places that matter to them.

The partnership of American Express with the National Trust for Historic Preservation seeks to increase public awareness of the importance of historic and environmental conservation in the United States, preserve American historic and cultural landmarks, and strengthen local communities through preservation efforts. For over ten years, American Express has supported National Trust for Historic Preservation initiatives, including its Save America's Treasures and Heritage Tourism programs.

What is the World Monuments Fund and how is it connected to American Express?
The World Monuments Fund is the foremost private non-profit organization dedicated to saving the world's cultural and architectural heritage. Over the past 10 years American Express has helped to preserve 126 sites in 62 countries from the World Monuments Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites and other World Monuments Fund programs.

American Express/ World Monuments Fund Sustainable Tourism Grants Program

Recognizing both the benefits and the pressures of tourism on cultural heritage sites around the world, American Express and World Monuments Fund (WMF) are building on the Partners in Preservation initiative by creating a global grants program focusing on the sustainable tourism aspect of historic sites.

The program will reward and encourage responsible stewardship of historic sites in an urban context that integrates historic preservation, sustainable tourism management, and visitor education into efforts to protect and preserve cultural heritage sites around the world.

The grants will recognize significant historic sites that:

- respect, protect and conserve the built and living cultural heritage and traditional values of host communities, and contribute to inter-cultural understanding

- use innovative approaches to conservation and sustainable tourism management that have potential for wider application to other sites

- ensure a meaningful and satisfying experience for tourists by raising awareness about sustainability issues and encouraging responsible and sustainable tourism practices

The first sustainable tourism grants will be announced in late 2007.

How can I get more involved in preserving historic sites in New Orleans?
The National Trust for Historic Preservation champions preservation by providing leadership, education, advocacy, and resources to people working to preserve, improve, and enjoy the places that matter to them. Join the National Trust for Historic Preservation and help save the neighborhoods and historic places that matter to you.

The Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans
The mission of the Preservation Resource Center is to promote the preservation, restoration, and revitalization of New Orleans' historic architecture and neighborhoods.
Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans
923 Tchoupitoulas Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
www.preservationnation.org

Additionally, you can learn more and volunteer through the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Gulf Coast Recovery Initiative.

Preservation Resources
National Trust for Historic Preservation
African American Heritage Preservation Foundation Inc.
Foundation for Historical Louisiana
Louisiana Landmarks Society

Links to Nominees
Franz Building: Good Work Network
New Orleans Healing Center: The Healing Center/La Source Ancienne Ounfo, Inc.
St. James A.M.E. Church: St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church
St. Augustine Parish Hall: St. Augustine Church
St. Alphonsus Art & Cultural Center: Friends of St. Alphonsus
Eagle Saloon: New Orleans Music Hall of Fame
Odyssey House Louisiana: Odyssey House Louisiana
Passebon Cottage: New Orleans African-American Museum
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1: Save Our Cemeteries

How are the amounts of the grants decided?
American Express, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a special Advisory Committee made up of local New Orleans dignitaries will review the public's stories about the nine historic sites, along with each site's story, background, and monetary needs, and determine how the $400,000 in preservation grants will be awarded.

Who provides the grant funding for this initiative?
Through the Partners in Preservation program, American Express is giving $5 million to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This year, $400,000 will be allocated in grants toward the restoration of historic sites affected by Hurrican Katrina in New Orleans.

When and how will the grant recipients be announced?
The grant recipients will be announced in May 2008.

How can I share my story?
Go to the Explore Page and click on any of the historic sites in the List of Locations. The map will zoom into your chosen location and allow you to further expand your knowledge. Clicking on the 'Learn More' button brings you to your chosen site's unique Explore Page, where on clicking the 'submit your story' button you can add your own personal story.

How do I upload photos?
Go to the Explore Page and click on any of the historic sites in the List of Locations. The map will zoom into your chosen location and allow you to further expand your knowledge. Clicking on the 'Learn More' button brings you to your chosen site's unique Explore Page, where on clicking the 'add your story' button you can add your own personal photo.

Whom can I contact for help with technical difficulties?
Please fill out the form below.