Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awards Christiansburg Institute, Inc. $100,000 grant

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded Christiansburg Institute, Inc. (CI, Inc.) a grant of $100,000. The successful grant proposal, titled ‘The School Has Gone to the People: Increasing Community Interaction with Christiansburg Institute Museum & Archives has been awarded as a part of the Foundation’s ‘Community-Based Archives’ grant program.

“The intergenerational social movement happening today is clear; the equitable preservation and reinvestment in black histories and stories is a civic responsibility and moral obligation inseparable from any honest pursuit of justice. We are tremendously honored to receive a successful grant award from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, significantly empowering Christiansburg Institute to keep strong at our pursuit of justice today,” said C.I. Inc. executive director, Chris Sanchez.

The preservation of the Christiansburg Institute Museum and Archive’s (CIMA) collections is designed to provide the public with insight into the social, economic, and political atmosphere in Southwest Virginia during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries for African Americans that attended Christiansburg Industrial Institute in Montgomery County.

The grant award will fund artifact maintenance and preservation materials, a series of educational community programs curated to increase public engagement with CII’s history, and supports a part-time archivist tasked with cataloging the organization’s archival collections.

To learn more about C.I., Inc. you can head to their website.

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